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Frank  Field   EUinwood 


His  Life  and  Work 

1*      OCT  19  1911 
MARY  G.  ELLINWOOD 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming    H.    Revell    Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  igii,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  123  N.  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  St.,  W. 
London :  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


TO   LAURA 

The  wife  to  whose  unselfish  devotion  he  owed  the 
happiness  and  tranquillity  of  mind  which  more  than 
any  other  earthly  cause  contributed  to  his  length  of 
days  and  the  success  and  usefulness  of  his  career. 


PREFACE 

The  biography  was  undertaken  by  request,  for 
the  benefit  of  relatives,  intimate  friends,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  grandchildren  of  my  Father.  Hence 
many  details  pertaining  to  his  childhood  and  youth 
have  been  given  which  might  otherwise  have  been 
omitted.  I  wish  gratefully  to  acknowledge  the 
assistance  given  by  my  Mother,  whose  memory  has 
supplied  many  interesting  incidents.  And  thanks 
are  also  due  to  the  Rev.  Andrew  Morse,  whose  care- 
fully preserved  letters  from  his  College  chum  have 
enabled  me  to  present  those  days,  and  the  follow- 
ing Seminary  years,  as  largely  autobiographical. 
But  warmest  and  most  especial  gratitude  is  rendered 
to  the  two  devoted  friends  of  my  Father,  Miss 
Ellen  C.  Parsons,  editor  of  Woman's  Work,  and 
Mr.  Robert  E.  Speer,  who  gave  time  from  their 
busy  lives  to  contribute — in  chapters  xv  and  xvi — 
the  best  pages  in  the  Memorial. 

This  record,  of  a  life  so  full  of  high  endeavour, 
and  so  far-reaching  in  its  influence  for  good,  and 
of  a  nature  simple,  tender,  true  and  pure, — is  given 
as  a  precious  heritage  to  his  descendants,  and  as 
an  inspiration  to  them,  and  possibly  to  others,  to 
struggle  and  achieve,  and  as  far  as  in  each  lies, 
to  leave  like  "  footprints  in  the  sands  of  time." 


Contents 

PAGE 

Chapter  I. — 1826-1845 

Birth — Ancestry — Childhood — Academy  Days 

— Teaching 11 

Chapter  II. — 1845-185 1 

College  Days — Graduation — Teaching  in  Al- 
bany and  Batavia 27 

Chapter  III. — 1851-1854 

Seminary  Days — Marriage — Pastorate  at  Bel- 
vedere, N.  J 35 

Chapter  IV.— 1854-1866 

Pastorate  at  Rochester,  N,  Y. — The  Civil 
War — First  Trip  Abroad — Personal  Charac- 
teristics— Death  of  His  Wife — Journey  to 
Spain  and  the  Holy  Land — Leaves  Rochester      44 

Chapter  V. — 1866-1871 

Removal  to  New  York — Secretary  of  Church 
Erection  Committee — Marriage — Home  at 
Orange,  N.  J. — Journey  to  California — As- 
sociate Editor  of  New  York  Evangelist — Sec- 
retary of  the  Five  Million  Memorial  Fund      .       56 

Chapter  VI. — 1871-1877 

Secretary  for  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions — 
Journey  Around  the  World 63 


CONTENTS 

rAGE 

Chapter  VII. — 1877-1887 

Publishes  First  Book — Visit  to  Mexico — Con- 
nection with  Clifton  Springs  Sanitarium — 
Leaves  Orange  and  Settles  in  New  York — Pro- 
fessor of  Comparative  Religions         •       •       •       73 

Chapter  VIII.— 1887-1890 

World  Conference  on    Missions — Appeal   to 
King  Leopold — Visit  to  Scotland — Letters    .       8i 

Chapter  XI. — 1890-1897 

Missionary  Guests — Lectures  at  Andover  and 
Union  Theological  Seminary — Publishes  "Ori- 
ental Religions  and  Christianity  " — Letters — 
Degree  of  LL.  D.  Conferred — Address  to  Li 
Hung  Chang — Reply  of  the  Viceroy  ...       89 

Chapter  X. — 1897-1900 

Appointed  Guardian  of  Korean  Prince — Con- 
nection  with  Korea — Establishment  of  the 
Philippine  Mission — President  of  Chi  Alpha 
Circle — Brings  out  Third  Book  on  Missions   .     105 

Chapter  XL — 1900-1903 

Home  Life  in  Cornwall — Trip  to  Bermuda — 
Death  of  His  Grandson — Letters — Mutual 
Esteem  Between  Colleagues — Secretarial  La- 
bors Lightened  .  116 

Chapter  XII. — 1903-1905 

Death  of  Daughter — Founding  of  Manila 
Training  School — Physical  Infirmity — Fare- 
well to  Office — Dignity  and  Patience  Under 
Suffering 129 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  XIII. — 1905-1908 

Letters — Winters  in  the  South — Resignation — 
Letters — Death 135 

Chapter  XIV. 

Funeral  Services  in  Cornwall,  New  York,  and 
Rochester 151 

Chapter  XV. 

Dr.  EUinwood  and  the  Women's  Boards  :  By 
Miss  Ellen  C.  Parsons,  M.A 160 

Chapter  XVL 

As   Secretary   of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  :  By  Robert  E.  Speer,  D.D.     187 

Chapter  XVIL 

Tributes 234 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Frank  Field  Ellinwood  ,         .         .  Frontispiece 

FACING     PAGE 

Ellinwood   Residents    ......       96 

Ellinwood  Girls'  School,    1909     ....     134 

Frank    Field    Ellinwood    When    About    Seventy 

Years  of  Age 214 


I— I826-I845 

BIRTH ANCESTRY CHILDHOOD ACADEMY 

DAYS — TEACHING 

FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD  was  born  in 
Clinton,  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  on  June 
20,  1826.  He  was  the  fourth  in  a  family  of 
eleven  children  born  to  Eli  Ellinwood  and  his 
wife,  Sophia  Maria  Gridley.  Seven  years  before 
this  date  the  bride  of  eighteen  had  mounted  on  a 
pillion  behind  her  young  husband  and  ridden  with 
him  through  the  village  from  her  father's  home  to 
his  house  on  Brimfield  Street,  where  he  himself 
had  been  born,  and  where  in  years  to  come  eight 
of  their  children  were  born.  That  bride,  many  dec- 
ades later,  was  heard  to  say, — a.  glimmer  of  pride 
lighting  her  faded  eyes, — "  In  those  days  your 
Grandfather  was  called  Handsome  Ellinwood." 
The  Brimfield  Street  house  had  been  built  in  1793 
by  Samuel  Ellinwood,  father  of  Eli.  He  was 
doubtless  something  of  a  pioneer  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, as  the  street  was  named  for  his  native  town 
in  Massachusetts;  to  which  place  he  journeyed  in 
the  following  January  for  his  bride,  Rebecca 
Groves.  The  substantial  old  building  is  still  stand- 
ing, and  the  street  retains  its  ancient  name. 


12  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Frank  Ellinwood  was  the  seventh  in  descent 
from  Ralph  ElHnwood,  a  Welshman,  whose  name 
is  recorded  in  the  London  Custom  House  as  em- 
barking on  the  ship  True  Love,  in  September, 
1635.  He  landed  in  Salem,  then  a  town  only  nine 
years  old,  and  there  married  and  settled.  In  recog- 
nition of  a  service  later  rendered  to  the  township, 
a  grant  of  land  was  made  to  Ralph,  which  has  for 
his  descendants  a  particular  interest.  Quotations 
from  a  copy  of  this  land  conveyance  follow. 

There  was  held  "  a  meeting  of  ye  Selectmen,  ye 
6th  of  ye  2nd  month  1661,  there  being  present 
Major  E.  Hathorne,  Sergeant  J.  Porter,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Brown,  Henry  Bartholomew  and  Mr.  Cor- 
win,"  to  carry  out  the  terms  of  an  agreement  en- 
tered into  by  Ralph  Ellinwood  "ye  nth  month  of 
1659,  whereby  He,  the  said  Ellinwood  is  to  have  all 
the  waste  land  that  is  common  from  the  East  side 
of  his  lot,  to  the  Point,  and  so  round  before  the 
river,  so  farr  as  his  land  goeth;  with  all  the  marsh 
or  creek  therein.  And  further  he  hath  Liberty  to 
fence  on  the  east  side  of  his  lot  down  to  low  water 
marke."  "  A  true  copy  of  Town  Record  as  exam- 
ined in  Salem.    Attest — Thomas  Barton." 

On  these  same  "  marshes,  creeks,  and  waste 
lands  "  now  stands  the  city  of  Charlestown,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  a  part  of  Cambridge. 

Ralph  Ellinwood  became  a  member  of  the  First 
Congregational  Church  of  Salem;  and  there  are 
recorded  the  baptisms  of  six  of  his  children.     In 


ANCESTRY  13 

1666, — a  quarter  of  a  century  before  Salem  lighted 
her  witch  fires, — he  removed  to  Beverly,  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  church  records  of  that  town  show  that 
on  the  23rd  of  April,  1667,  Ralph  Ellinwood  and 
some  fifty  other  members  "  petitioned  the  Salem 
Church  for  a  separate  church  at  Beverly."  He  and 
his  descendants  appear  to  have  been  faithful  in 
attendance  on  the  New  England  Meeting  House,  a 
faithfulness  especially  commendable  in  those  bitter 
winters  when  the  chill  of  the  churches  mocked  at 
the  glowworm  heat  of  a  few  footstoves.  One 
branch  at  least  of  the  family  moved  later  to  Brim- 
field,  Mass.,  and  in  a  History  *  of  that  town 
there  is  an  account  of  "  ye  seating  of  ye  Meeting 
House,"  wherein  is  given  the  location  of  the 
respective  pews  of  Thomas  Ellinwood,  and  Thomas 
Ellinwood,  Junior.  This  Thomas  Junior  was  a 
man  of  prominence  in  Brimfield,  and  was  one  of 
those  Selectmen,  who,  "  on  July  14th,  1773,  as  mem- 
bers of  the  War  Grievance  Committee,  signed  a 
protest  to  King  George." 

It  is  certain  that  the  Ellinwoods  of  a  more  recent 
date  have  been  equally  good  citizens,  public-spirited 
and  characterized  by  uprightness,  dignity,  and 
purity  of  mind  and  life.  A  peculiar  and  lovable 
simplicity  of  nature  has  been  common  to  many  of 

*  See,  in  the  Congressional  Library  at  Washington,  "  The 
Historical  Celebration  of  the  town  of  Brimfield,  Hampden 
County,"  by  Rev.  Charles  M.  Hyde.  (Clark  Bryan  Co., 
Springfield,  Mass.,  Printers.) 


14  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

them,  combined  with  gentleness  of  manner,  and  in 
speech,  great  purity  of  diction.  Eli  Ellinwood,  a 
man  of  superior  intelligence,  was  especially  fastidi- 
ous in  his  language.  In  old  age  he  spent  a  year  or 
two  with  his  son  Frank,  and  as  one  grandchild  has 
remarked,  "  Grandfather  never  corrected  us  unless 
it  were  for  some  childish  slip  in  grammar."  But  his 
oft-repeated  request  to  "  Parse  that  sentence  "  some- 
times caused  dismay. 

It  frequently  happens  that  the  boy  who  amounts 
to  most  in  life  has  inherited  from  the  mother's  side 
of  the  family  some  of  his  best  qualities,  and  this 
was  true  in  the  case  of  Frank  Ellinwood.  His  force 
and  aggressiveness  were  clearly  derived  from  the 
Gridleys,*  while  his  mother's  family,  on  the  mater- 

*  The  Gridleys  trace  their  descent  from  Albertus  Greslet, 
who  entered  England  with  William  the  Conqueror  and  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  Hastings.  He  and  his  descendants 
were  Barons  of  Manchester  from  the  Conquest  till  1315.  The 
name  underwent,  from  generation  to  generation,  many  changes 
in  orthography,  but  there  was  never  a  change  in  the  warlike 
spirit  of  its  representatives.  Albert  de  Gredle,  a  grandson  of 
Albertus,  was  killed  in  "  the  wars  in  Wales."  Robert  de 
Griedley  took  part  with  the  rebellious  Barons,  and  in  King 
John's  time  forfeited  all  his  lands  in  Lincoln,  Norfolk,  Suf- 
folk, Oxfordshire,  and  Lancashire  (twelve  Knight's  fees  in 
all),  but  later  made  his  peace  with  Henry  HI  and  received 
them  back.  He  married  the  niece  of  William  de  Longchamps, 
the  famous  Chancellor  of  Coeur  de  Lion ;  and  was  one  of  those 
Barons  who  witnessed  the  confirmation  of  the  Magna  Charta 
at  Westminster  in  1225.  The  first  to  spell  his  name  as  we  do 
was  Thomas   de   Gridley,   who   served   in   Gascony  in   1242, 


ANCESTRY  15 

nal  side,  belonged  to  a  circle  of  devoted  Christian 
pioneers,  who  laid  the  foundation  for  religious  and 
educational  institutions  in  Central  New  York.  His 
mother's  sister  was  a  most  consecrated  Christian 
woman,  and  a  favourite  aunt  of  Frank's.  Her  two 
brothers  were  Presbyterian  clergyman,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Gridley,  D.D.,  of  Waterloo,  being  especially 
well  known  and  esteemed  in  Central  and  Western 
New  York;  while  her  cousin  was  that  intrepid 
heroine,  Mrs.  Eliza  Hart  Spaulding,  who  in  1836 
with  her  husband  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Marcus  Whit- 
man responded  to  the  Macedonian  call  of  the  Nez 
Perces,  and  made  a  wonderful  and  historic  over- 
land trip,  "  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  es- 
tablishing a  mission  on  the  wilds  of  the  Pacific 
Slope."  In  a  book  entitled  "  American  Heroes  on 
Mission  Fields,"  there  is  an  article  by  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  giving  a  thrilling  account  of  this  journey. 
Mrs.  Spaulding  and  Mrs.  Whitman  were  the  first 
white  women  to  follow  the  overland  trail,  and  this 
six  years  before  Fremont,  treading  in  their  foot- 
steps, gained  the  name  of  the  "  Path  Finder."  They 
were  both  young  and  delicate  women,  had  been 

against  the  Scots  in  1244,  and  against  Wales  in  1260.  It  was 
nearly  four  hundred  years  later, — in  1630, — that  Thomas  Grid- 
ley,  twenty-third  in  descent  from  Albertus,  emigrated  from 
Essex,  England,  with  his  two  brothers,  and  founded  the 
American  family.  Six  years  after  landing  he  joined  a  band 
of  thirty  men  from  Windsor,  Conn.,  who  volunteered  to  fight 
the  Pequots. 


i6  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

tenderly  nurtured,  and  Mrs.  Spaulding  was  recently 
risen  from  a  sick  bed.  No  wheel  had  yet  pressed 
the  sage  brush,  and  they  were  obliged  to  travel  thou- 
sands of  miles  on  horseback,  fording  great  rivers 
on  rafts  improvised  from  buffalo  skins.  Often 
their  only  subsistence  was  buffalo  meat;  they  were 
tortured  by  thirst,  and  hostile  Indians  sometimes 
surrounded  their  camp  by  night.  Finally  Mrs. 
Spaulding,  desperately  ill,  was  laid  by  the  roadside 
to  die.  She  only  said,  "  Leave  me.  Go  on  and  save 
yourselves.  Tell  mother  I'm  glad  I  came."  She 
rallied,  however,  and  lived  to  aid  her  husband  in 
establishing  the  Mission,  labouring  many  years  for 
the  Nez  Perces,  and  outliving  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Whit- 
man, who  were  massacred  by  Indians  in  1847.  In 
the  article  referred  to.  Dr.  Ellinwood  recalls  hear- 
ing, when  a  child,  his  "  mother  and  grandmother 
discussing  letters  received  from  this  far-away 
cousin."  And  he  concludes,  "  her  chief  pre-emi- 
nence lay  in  the  element  of  religious  trust.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  there  has  ever  appeared  a  higher 
type  of  missionary  heroism  than  that  of  Mrs. 
Spaulding." 

If  some  of  the  more  dominant  characteristics  in 
Frank  Ellinwood  were  inherited  from  his  mother's 
side  of  the  family,  the  same  seems  to  have  been 
true  in  the  case  of  his  distant  cousin,  the  famous 
New  England  philanthropist,  Dr.  Samuel  Gridley 
Howe.  From  the  time  when  Thomas,  Richard,  and 
Samuel  Gridley  landed  in  Boston,  early  in  the  seven- 


ANCESTRY  17 

teenth  century,  there  has  cropped  out,  every  now 
and  then,  a  distinguished  descendant  of  that  name. 
Thomas,  the  ancestor  of  Frank,  settled  in  Connec- 
ticut, and  became  the  great-uncle  of  the  two  brothers 
Jeremy  and  Richard,  who  in  the  eighteenth  century 
made  for  themselves  a  name;  Jeremy  becoming 
Attorney  General  for  the  province  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  while  Richard  attained  the  rank  of 
Major  General  in  the  Revolutionary  War.* 

Of  the  three  original  brothers,  Samuel  died  not 
long  after  landing,  and  his  name  reappears  from 
generation  to  generation  in  the  descendants  of  his 
brothers.  It  was  the  name  of  Frank  EUinwood's 
grandfather  and  of  his  uncle,  and  it  was  the  name 
which  in  1801  the  beautiful  Patty  Gridley  Howe 

*  The  encyclopedias  tell  us  that — 

"Jeremy  was  born  in  Boston  in  1702;  was  educated  at 
Harvard;  became,  for  a  short  time,  editor  of  a  paper;  was 
eminent  for  his  classic  attainments;  acquired  great  reputa- 
tion as  a  lawyer,  and  finally  was  appointed  Attorney  General 
for  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

His  brother  Richard,  born  in  171 1,  was  in  1745  in  the 
engineer  service  at  the  Siege  of  Louisburg.  Ten  years  later 
he  was  made  Chief  Engineer  and  Colonel  of  Infantry;  and  in 
1756,  took  part  in  the  Crown  Point  Expedition,  erecting  the 
fortifications  at  Lake  George.  In  1758  he  served  under  Am- 
herst, and  later  under  Wolfe,  with  such  distinction  that  Mag- 
dalen Island  and  half  pay  were  given  him  as  reward.  And 
when  the  Revolution  broke  out  he  directed  the  construction 
of  the  works  on  Breed's  Hill  the  night  before  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill.     He  rose  to  the  rank  of  Major  General." 

The  Connecticut  Records  also  mention  one  Abraham  Grid- 
ley,  descendant  of  Thomas,  who,  as  a  youth  in  his  late  teens, 
served  in  the  Siege  of  Louisburg. 


i8  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

gave  to  the  son  who  was  destined  to  become  "  one 
of  our  great  Americans,  and  one  of  the  best  men 
who  ever  lived."  That  is  the  opinion  expressed 
by  John  Jay  Chapman  in  an  enthusiastic  review 
of  the  "  Life  of  Dr.  Samuel  Gridley  Howe," 
recently  brought  out  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Laura 
E.  Richards.  He  variously  styles  him,  "  A  great 
romantic  hero";  "an  extraordinary  and  unique 
personality,"  and  a  "  man  whose  response  to  any 
call  for  help  was  automatic." 

It  was  that  divine  pity  which  stirred  him  as  a 
youth  to  fight  for  six  long  years  with  the  Greek 
patriots  against  Turkish  oppression;  to  endure 
many  hardships,  "  subsisting  at  one  time  on  fried 
wasps,  with  only  a  stone  for  a  pillow."  And  later, 
to  raise  funds  for  the  starving  refugees;  and  to 
found  and  maintain  for  them  a  colony  at  Corinth, 
where  he  was  himself  "  governor,  clerk,  and  con- 
stable." 

And  it  was  the  same  spirit  which  in  1837  helped 
him  to  free  from  imprisonment  the  darkened  mind 
and  soul  of  little  Laura  Bridgeman,  performing  a 
miracle  which  startled  the  world;  and  which  has 
since  given  to  us  the  genius  of  Helen  Kellar. 

In  following  the  life  history  of  Frank  Ellinwood, 
it  will  appear  that  in  force  and  executive  ability, 
in  the  humanitarian  impulse,  and  in  the  faculty 
for  leadership,  he  was  not  unlike  his  more  famous 
kinsman. 

One   other  militant   Gridley   of  recent   date   is 


CHILDHOOD  19 

worthy  of  mention,  Captain  Charles  Vernon  Grid- 
ley,  who  in  the  battle  of  Manila  received  from 
Admiral  Dewey  the  command,  "  You  can  five  when 
you  are  ready,  Gridley." 

Frank  Ellinwood's  great-grandfather,  Abraham 
Gridley,  was  born  near  Hartford,  Conn.,  and 
married  Theodosia  Hossington.  They  afterward 
moved  to  Clinton,  where  their  sons,  Sylvester  and 
Samuel,  married  two  sisters,  Laura  and  Chloe  Hart. 
Samuel  inherited  from  his  mother  a  fine  voice,  and 
sang  in  the  choir  of  the  Clinton  Congregational 
Church  with  Thomas  Hastings,  the  well  known 
writer  of  hym.ns.  This  gift  of  song  descended  to* 
Frank,  and  to  two,  at  least,  of  his  brothers. 

The  boyhood  environment  of  young  Frank  was, 
in  many  respects,  a  fortunate  one,  laying  founda- 
tions for  a  healthy  body  and  a  wholesome  mind. 
As  one  of  many  brothers  and  sisters  on  his  father's 
farm,  he  early  learned  habits  of  work,  and  general 
helpfulness;  while  the  atmosphere  of  a  nearby  col- 
lege furnished  an  intellectual  stimulus  which,  in 
later  years,  had  its  effect  on  the  ambitious  boy. 

It  was  a  primitive  life.  In  those  days  cooking 
stoves  were  unknown;  and  baking  was  done  in 
brick  ovens.  Meats  were  broiled  over  the  coals; 
and  matches  were  so  expensive  that  they  were  used 
only  by  the  wealthy.  Flint  and  punk  were  utilized 
for  kindling  a  blaze;  and  an  uncle  writes  that  as 
a  boy  he  "  well  remembers  going  to  the  neighbours 
to  borrow  fire."    At  that  period  home-made  candles 


20  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

furnished  light;  and  as  there  were  no  ice  chests,  in 
winter  certain  articles  of  food,  such  as  pies  or 
sauces,  were  kept  frozen.  His  children  have  heard 
their  father  tell  of  the  barrel  of  frozen  cider  apple- 
sauce which  stood  on  his  mother's  back  porch,  and 
of  how,  as  a  youngster,  he  used  to  balance  on  the 
edge  of  the  half  empty  barrel  and  excavate  with 
a  stout  spoon. 

In  the  spring  of  1834  EH  Ellinwood  moved  with 
his  family  from  Clinton,  to  Pembroke,  N.  Y., 
a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles.  As  no 
railroads  crossed  New  York  State  at  that  time,*  the 
journey  had  to  be  made  by  wagon,  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  it  is  furnished  by  Henry  Ellinwood,  younger 
brother  of  Frank. 

"  We  moved  in  lumber  wagons,  one  heav- 
ily loaded  with  household  effects,  the  other 
lighter,  fitted  up  for  the  occupancy  of  mother  and 
the  children.  Father  drove  the  loaded  team,  and 
brother  Emory  followed  close  behind  with  the 
family.  The  lighter  wagon  was  fitted  up  somewhat 
after  the  style  of  the  Prairie  Schooner  of  more 
recent  date.  The  cover  was  an  extemporized  one, 
the  bows  being  made  out  of  some  tough  kind  of 
timber  bent  into  proper  shape  and  covered  with 
striped  bedticking.  The  latter  was  used  as  an  eco- 
nomic measure,  as  it  could  be  utilized  in  the  manu- 
facture of  bedding  after  our  arrival.  There  were 
no  springs  under  the  wagon,  but  mother  and  the 

*  There  were,  in  1830,  but  twenty- four  miles  of  railroad  in 
the  United  States. 


CHILDHOOD  21 

two  younger  children  had  a  spring  seat,  while 
Emory,  your  father  and  I  sat  upon  a  box  in  front 
which  contained  eatables.  ...  I  remember 
that  our  first  stop  was  at  Vernon,  for  dinner,  and 
that  later  when  the  extemporized  canopy  top  drew 
up  to  the  hotel  for  the  family,  the  landlord 
announced  that  '  the  stage  was  ready,'  which  was 
very  gratifying  to  my  boyish  pride." 

In  a  letter  written  seventy-two  years  later  by 
Frank  to  his  eldest  brother,  Emory,  he  says : — 

"  I  well  remember  the  journey  from  Clin- 
ton to  Pembroke;  the  cold  winds  and  deep 
mud;  the  old  black  mare  with  her  abbreviated  tail, 
and  the  one  or  two  experiences  of  borrowing  rails 
from  the  fences  to  pry  up  our  sinking  wagons.  I 
remember  the  long  Cayuga  Bridge,  and  Clifton 
Springs  with  its  mysterious  odour  (of  Sulphur), 
and  memory  recalls  the  piping  of  the  early  frogs 
which  cheered  us  on  every  side." 

After  ten  weary  days  the  family  caravan  reached 
Pembroke  and  the  future  home  on  "  Goss  hill." 

In  his  letter  of  reply  to  that  just  quoted,  Emory 
Ellinwood  continues  the  reminiscences  of  those 
days.  "  We  had  no  fruit  that  first  year,  owing  to 
a  severe  frost  the  fourteenth  day  of  May  (mourn- 
ful date,  to  be  remembered  nearly  four-score 
years!),  but  the  next  year  there  was  a  great  abun- 
dance. I  remember  that  we  boys  slept  in  the  South 
chamber  of  the  old  house,  and  during  the  night 
time  we  could  hear  those  luscious  striped  apples 


22  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

drop  from  the  trees;  and  at  break  of  day  there  was 
leaping  from  beds  and  a  rushing  downstairs,  dressed 
or  otherwise,  to  grab  apples  and  put  them  in  store 
for  future  eating,  or  for  sale  to  stage  passengers 
when  ascending  Goss  hill."  In  those  days  a  stage 
line  ran  from  Albany  to  Buffalo,  over  the  old  State 
road,  the  four  horses  being  changed  at  certain  sub- 
divisions of  the  route.  Such  a  change  was  made 
at  Pembroke;  and  in  writing  of  his  brother  Frank, 
Henry  Ellinwood  continues,  "  Your  father  was 
quite  a  financier  in  those  days.  In  regard  to  the 
*  apple  deal,'  he  operated  through  an  agency,  em- 
ploying brother  George  and  me  as  his  salesmen. 
He  had  a  fine  patch  of  watermelons,  and  he  paid 
little  George  for  selling,  in  melons:  and  when  the 
older  brothers  used  to  chide  him  for  not  selling 
in  his  own  interest,  he  would  reply  that  he  '  loved 
the  melons  more  than  he  did  the  money.'  The  pro- 
ceeds of  these  sales  amounted  at  one  time  to  about 
a  quart  of  pennies,  big  old-fashioned  red  ones !  and 
these  were  stored  in  a  chest  in  the  attic.  I  have 
a  relic  of  those  early  days,  in  the  shape  of  a  '  sap- 
yoke.'  This  implement  Frank  made  with  a  limited 
supply  of  tools.  It  consisted  of  a  stout  piece  of 
timber  fitted  to  the  shoulders,  and  extending  out 
from  each  side  a  foot  or  more,  from  each  end  of 
which  hooks  were  depended  by  strong  cords,  and 
these  hooks  held  the  pails,  so  that  the  weight  of 
the  sap  rested  upon  the  shoulders.  With  this  yoke 
we  carried  sap  over  the  hills  of  the  old  South 


ACADEMY  DAYS  23 

Woods,  climbing  over  logs  and  dodging  brush 
heaps.  I  prize  the  relic  highly."  This  practical 
ingenuity  and  inventive  faculty  characterized  not 
only  his  boyhood,  but  his  later  years.  He  was 
ever  fertile  in  expedients. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  Frank  left  home  to  attend 
the  old  Clinton  Academy,  "  at  which  time," — so 
writes  his  brother, — "  he  was  a  robust  healthy  boy; 
more  so  than  any  of  us.  He  and  mother  went 
together,  travelling  from  Rochester  to  Utica  by 
the  Erie  Canal."  This  mode  of  travel,  compared 
with  the  earlier  wagon  journey  across  the  State, 
seemed  luxurious  as  well  as  novel  to  the  boy.  In 
after  life  he  recalled  the  pleasant  deck  covered  with 
awnings  and  furnished  with  easy  chairs;  the  com- 
fortable cabin  and  berths,  and  the  coloured  men 
waiting  at  table — these  being  the  first  negroes  ever 
seen  by  him.  When  restless  he  would  vary  the 
monotony  by  a  run  along  the  towpath. 

For  three  years  Frank  remained  away,  studying 
and  teaching,  and  then  returned  home  for  a  vaca- 
tion before  entering  College.  To  this  period  of  his 
youth  he  refers  in  a  letter  written  many  years  later: 

"  I  am  led  to  speak  of  the  many  kind  Provi- 
dences which  I  gratefully  recall  during  my  life. 
For  one  thing  it  was  most  fortunate  that  in  leaving 
home  at  fifteen  I  was  thrown  under  the  best  of 
influences.  Had  they  been  quite  different  my  head- 
strong nature  might  have  led  me  to  ruin.  I  remem- 
ber that  at  one  time  as  a  young  boy,  I  aspired  to 


24  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

a  position  as  a  circus  rider,  or  a  canal  driver.  At 
Clinton  the  people  of  whom  I  had  heard  father  and 
mother  and  grandmother  Gridley  talk  so  admir- 
ingly threw  a  more  elevating  influence  over  me, 
and  the  presence  of  Hamilton  College  inspired  me. 
God  led  me  more  wisely  than  I  knew."  And  again 
he  writes,  ''  I  have  always  believed  that  conversion 
occurs  in  many  cases  at  an  earlier  period  than  was 
once  commonly  supposed,  judging  therein  some- 
what from  my  own  experience.  I  recall  some  very 
vivid  religious  experiences  when  I  was  about  eleven 
or  twelve  years  old,  but  it  was  not  then  commonly 
supposed  that  conversion  could  occur  at  so  early 
an  age,  or  at  least  that  it  was  wise  to  encourage 
children  to  make  a  profession  of  religion,  as  they 
were  not  supposed  to  be  old  enough  to  form  proper 
judgment  in  the  case;  but  the  impressions  at  that 
time  made  upon  my  mind  and  heart  were  very 
deep,  and  the  love  I  felt  for  the  Saviour  was  as 
sincere  as  any  that  I  have  ever  felt  in  my  life.  Not 
being  encouraged  to  consider  myself  a  Christian, — 
though  no  word  of  discouragement  was  spoken  to 
me, — I  dismissed  the  subject  and  lived  a  careless 
life  in  many  respects;  and  yet  I  never  gave  up  the 
idea  that  sooner  or  later  I  should  be  a  Christian, 
and  I  even  began  to  look  forward  to  the  ministry 
as  my  vocation  in  life.  This  purpose  was  strength- 
ened by  a  little  incident  that  occurred  when  I  was 
fifteen  years  of  age.  The  late  Dr.  Seth  Hastings 
of  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  took  me  into  his  sleigh  while 
I  was  on  my  way  home  from  school,  and  learning 
that  I  was  preparing  for  college,  he  strongly  advised 
me  to  go  on  with  my  study,  to  give  my  heart  tp 


ACADEMY  DAYS  25 

God  and  myself  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  I 
was  influenced  in  this  perhaps  by  the  fact  that  both 
my  maternal  uncles  had  chosen  that  calling.  A 
year  later,  or  when  I  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  I 
learned  with  great  pleasure  that  there  was  deep 
religious  interest  in  the  Congregational  Church  of 
Clinton  where  I  was  living,  and  I  resolved  to  im- 
prove the  opportunity  to  the  utmost.  Meanwhile, 
young  as  I  was,  I  was  engaged  in  teaching  the  com- 
mon district  school.  While  on  my  way  from  the 
Academy  to  visit  the  Trustees  of  this  school  and 
seek  the  position,  I  had,  I  remember,  turned  aside 
to  a  retired  spot  and  prayed  for  success.  Success 
was  granted  me,  and  when  finally  I  became  more 
deeply  interested  in  the  subject  of  religion,  the 
crucial  question  with  me  was  whether  in  taking 
that  stand,  I  would  confess  Christ  by  opening  school 
each  morning  with  reading  the  Scriptures  and  with 
prayer.  This  seemed  too  much.  I  hesitated  for 
about  a  week,  but  found  no  rest  until  one  evening 
I  resolved  that  at  all  hazards  I  would  do  my  duty.  I 
was  sixteen  years  old,  and  small  for  my  age,  and 
had  several  young  men  as  pupils,  older  and  larger 
than  myself;  but  with  my  mind  once  made  up,  all 
fear  passed  away,  my  mind  was  entirely  at  peace, 
and  I  even  looked  forward  to  the  coming  day  in 
order  that  I  might  carry  out  my  purpose.  When 
the  school  convened,  it  was  a  matter  of  great  aston- 
ishment to  the  pupils  when  I  told  them  that  we 
would  lay  aside  all  study  and  attend  to  the  reading 
of  a  passage  of  scripture,  after  which  I  would  offer 
prayer.  There  was,  however,  no  disposition  on 
the  part  of  any  to  make  light  of  the  occasion,  but 


26  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

quite  the  reverse;  and  within  a  month  I  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  nearly  all  the  older  pupils 
in  the  school  apparently  brought  to  Christ.  The 
reward  of  simply  doing  my  duty  seemed  to  me  very 
great,  and  that  experience  was  of  great  service  to 
me  in  after  years." 


II_i845-i8si 

COLLEGE  DAYS — GRADUATION TEACHING  IN 

ALBANY  AND  BATAVIA 

IN  the  autumn  of  1845  the  cherished  hope  of 
years  was  reaHzed,  and  Frank  entered  Hamil- 
ton College.  At  the  house  on  College  Hill 
where  board  was  obtained,  a  seven  months'  infant 
held  sway,  who  was  doubtless  regarded  with  scant 
tolerance  by  the  college  boys,  they  failing  to  per- 
ceive in  him  a  distinguished  statesman  in  embryo. 
This  was  Elihu  Root,  and  the  house  belonged  to 
his  maternal  grandfather,  Major  H.  G.  Buttrick. 

The  Rev.  Andrew  B.  Morse,  now  of  Santa  Bar- 
bara, Cal.,  a  classmate  and  life-long  loyal  friend, 
furnishes  the  following  recollections : — 

"  Frank  was  a  hard  student,  altogether  too  hard 
for  his  strength.  In  temperament  he  was  poised, 
quiet,  genial,  and  at  times  even  jovial;  and  was 
the  finest  looking  youth  in  his  class.  He  was  re- 
spected and  admired  by  all,  and  dearly  beloved  by 
those  admitted  to  his  inner  life. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  *  Alpha  Delta  Phi ' 
fraternity,  and  later  was,  with  four  or  five  others, 
honoured  by  election  to  the  highest  literary  society, 
Phi  Beta  Kappa. 

27 


28  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

In  its  junior  year  the  class  indulged  in  an  esca- 
pade; the  only  one  in  which  I  ever  knew  Frank  to 
engage.  It  was  on  this  wise.  A  beautiful  October 
day,  our  class  lazing  around  on  the  grass  of 
the  campus,  gazing  wistfully  off  to  the  distant  Tren- 
ton hills.  Some  one,  possessed,  shouted,  *  Let's  go 
and  explore  them ! '  It  took,  and  after  circling 
hand-in-hand  in  an  Indian  war  dance,  off  we  shot 
to  *  follow  the  leader,'  some  of  us  in  dressing  gowns 
and  slippers.  We  tramped  and  tramped  for  miles, 
until  footsore  and  famished  we  levied  on  farmers' 
wagons  and  orchards.  Darkness  fell  before  the  end 
of  the  twenty  miles.  Finally,  reaching  a  little  tavern, 
we  were  glad  at  last  to  tumble  into  hard  beds  and 
cots  up  in  the  attic.  The  boys  could  or  would  not 
sleep.  About  3  a.m.  in  crowded  a  lot  of  half  drunken 
lumbermen,  talking  and  singing.  Frank  and  I 
bunked  together;  somewhat  dispirited  we  *  chirked  ' 
each  other  up,  but  wondered  and  foreboded  what 
was  to  come.  Day  at  last  brought  light,  and  light 
a  supply  of  food,  and  great  supping  of  fun  in  '  do- 
ing '  Trenton  Falls.  Again  a  long  tramp  and  pull, 
and  the  small  morning  hours  brought  us  once  more 
to  dear  Alma  Mater.  '  Mater,'  or  rather  *  Prex 
North,'  had  five  '  rods  in  pickle  '  for  each  of  us,  and 
our  fathers  or  guardians  were  notified  by  auto- 
graph letters  of  the  faculty's  having  conferred  five 
warnings  on  each  Junior,  for  absence  from  class 
and  college  without  permission,  and  that  six  would 
secure  suspension."  (This  letter  of  November  ist, 
1847,  is  before  me.) 

That  particular  College  year  seems  to  have  been 


COLLEGE  DAYS  29 

full  of  adventure  for  the  young  student,  for  later 
in  life  he  writes  : — 

"  In  April  of  my  Junior  year,  in  company  with 
Martin  L.  Kimball,  my  classmate,  I  went  to  Cape 
Cod  on  a  mackerel  fishing  voyage, — I  for  my  health, 
and  he  for  a  lark.  After  making  our  shipment 
agreement,  about  two  weeks  elapsed  in  order  to 
make  preparation  for  the  voyage.  This  time  we 
spent  in  tramps  over  the  Cape,  to  Plymouth,  to 
Marshfield  where  Webster  had  lived,  and  to  Cohas- 
set.  We  were  full  of  adventure  and  puffed  with 
boyish  independence;  but  money  was  always  low." 
It  was  characteristic  of  him  that  in  such  straits  he 
always  sought  any  honourable  employment,  and 
this  occasion  was  no  exception. 

"Meanwhile,  (and  this  seems  to  have  been  a 
part  of  the  joke,  mutually  agreed  to),  Kimball 
lived  at  the  hotel  and  took  great  delight  in  playing 
gentleman,  borrowing  money  from  my  scanty 
store.  In  due  time  we  set  sail,  going  down 
the  Jersey  coast,  and  almost  immediately 
were  swept  by  a  storm  which  lasted  six  days. 
As  eight  of  us  lived  in  the  fo'castle,  where  all  the 
cooking  for  the  crew  was  done  over  a  hot  stove, 
scarcely  a  yard  from  our  bunks,  and  as  the  pot 
liquor  (flavoured  with  cabbage)  slopped  over  on 
the  stove,  the  air  was  rendered  ten- fold  more  sicken- 
ing. If  we  ventured  for  a  breath  of  fresh  air  into 
the  midships,  then  a  quantity  of  tainted  fish,  which 
had  burst  from  the  barrels,  greeted  our  nostrils. 
It  was  six  days  of  purgatory.  At  last  we  crept 
around  Sandy   Hook,  and  cast  anchor  under  the 


30  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

brow  of  Navasink,  glad  to  be  free  from  tossings 
without  and  tossings  within.  After  a  good  night's 
sleep,  we  appeared  above  deck,  and  were  greeted 
by  spring,  a  chorus  of  early  robins,  and  the  full 
foliage  of  a  wooded  height.  Sunday  morning  we 
reached  Newport,  where,  as  the  vessel  would  lie 
by  for  a  day,  my  companion  and  I  went  on  shore 
to  church.  Knowing  something  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Thayer,  pastor  of  the  Westport  congregation,  and 
one  of  our  Alpha  Delta  Phi  fraternity,  we  resolved 
to  hear  him.  We  were  in  sailor  dress,  and  our 
red  flannel  shirt  sleeves,  without  a  coat,  attracted 
attention,  if  not  admiration.  We  reached  the 
church  during  the  noon  intermission,  and  sat  upon 
a  little  nearby  terrace.  Dr.  Thayer,  passing  out 
from  the  Sunday  School,  eyed  us  curiously,  but 
passed  on.  Under  an  impulse  of  conscience,  how- 
ever, he  turned  back  and  asked  if  we  would  like 
to  attend  the  service,  to  which  we  gladly  assented, 
and  were  directed  to  the  free  seats  of  the  gallery. 
He  told  us  that  they  '  often  invited  sailors  to  wor- 
ship with  them,  notwithstanding  which  we  were 
awkwardly  consciously  of  presenting  a  brilliant  red 
patch  on  the  face  of  a  well-dressed  audience. 

We  made  a  good  haul  of  Mackerel,  and  in  a  few 
days  returned  to  Provincetown.  We  had  forfeited 
our  share  of  fish  by  resolving  to  turn  at  once  inland, 
and  on  the  wharf  the  captain, — who  was  a  fearful 
stammerer, — auctioned  off  our  fishing  outfit  to  a 
weather-beaten  crowd  of  fishermen,  securing  for  us 
from  the  sale  barely  enough  to  keep  us  over  Sunday, 
and  pay  our  passage  on  a  schooner  to  Boston.  We 
sailed  away  on  Monday  with  not  enough  left  to 


GRADUATION  31 

purchase  a  dinner.  As  we  were  in  high  spirits, 
however,  and  attracted  no  little  attention  from 
the  captain  and  passengers,  we  were  invited  to 
amuse  the  company  with  college  songs,  in  con- 
sideration of  which  we  were  made  the  captain's 
guests  for  the  day  and  for  the  night  in  Boston 
harbor.  In  the  morning  we  shipped  our  baggage 
for  home  C.O.D.,  and  with  each  a  small  bundle  of 
personal  effects  strung  on  a  cane  over  his  shoulders, 
and  with  a  joint  exchequer  of  nine  cents,  we  started 
on  a  foot  tramp  to  Vermont.  We  breakfasted  at 
a  bakery  on  four  cents,  and  with  a  rare  flow  of 
spirits  proceeded  on  our  way,  but  not  without  first 
encountering  a  college  classmate  residing  in  Boston, 
wealthy,  and  doubtless  willing  to  loan  us  any 
amount,  if  so  desired.  We  made  no  report  of 
our  finances,  however,  but  gave  him  a  hearty  hand- 
shake, and  left  him  greatly  puzzled.  Before  night 
we  had  hired  out  for  a  month  to  a  market  gardener." 

Here  the  written  fragment  ends,  but  it  may  be 
added  that  while  working  for  this  man  the  students 
sometimes  talked  in  Latin,  much  to  the  mystifica- 
tion of  their  employer.  Finally  one  day  he  burst 
out  with,  "Who  he  ye  anyway?"  and  when  they 
enlightened  him,  said  "  Wall,  I  vimi!  I  always 
knowed  ye  was  something." 

It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  these  were  the  two 
honour  men  of  their  class,  the  next  year  Martin 
Kimball  graduating  as  Valedictorian,  and  Frank 
Ellinwood  as  Salutatorian.  Of  the  latter,  Mr.  Morse 
writes,  "  His  masterly  Commencement  oration  on 


32  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

*  The  Dignity  That  Acts  Within,'  was  a  noble  illus- 
tration of  his  own  character,  personality  and 
career." 

Immediately  after  graduation  these  two  chums, 
Frank  and  his  Fidus  Achates  Andrew,  began  a 
correspondence  which  continued  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  which  indeed  never  completely  died  out 
till  within  a  few  years  of  the  death  of  the  former. 
These  letters  of  half  a  lifetime  were,  it  seems, 
carefully  treasured  by  Mr.  Morse,  and  several  years 
ago  were  sent  by  him  to  my  father,  thinking  they 
might  interest  his  family.  In  them  it  is  interesting 
to  trace  how  truly  "  the  youth  was  father  of  the 
man;  "  and  as  his  experiences  as  teacher  and  the- 
ological student  were  marked  by  many  changes,  it 
seems  best,  so  far  as  possible,  to  quote  from  this 
correspondence  his  own  words  of  explanation. 

Upon  leaving  Clinton  Frank  had  carried  with 
him  the  following  letter : — 

"  Hamilton  College,  July  26th,  1849. 
Mr.  F.  F.  Ellinwood  was  one  of  the  very  best 
scholars  in  the  class  which  graduated  yesterday;  and 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  recommending  him  cordially 
as  a  young  gentleman  of  industry,  good  manners,  of 
a  good  mind,  and  a  good  heart.  He  has  my  warmest 
wishes  for  the  success  which  he  eminently  deserves. 

Anson  T.  Upson, 
Professor  of  Rhetoric  and  Oratory." 

With  these  cordial  words  to  aid  him  he  ventured 
the   following  autumn   to   Albany,   N.   Y.,   where 


TEACHING  IN  ALBANY  AND  BATAVIA  s^ 

he  opened  and  gradually  built  up  a  private  school 
of  twenty-seven  boys.  Of  this  undertaking  he  thus 
writes : — 

"  Only  a  spirit  of  commingled  confidence,  perse- 
verance and  desperation  helped  me  to  succeed. 
These  city  boys  are  much  worse  than  those  in  the 
country.  They  are  wise  beyond  what  is  written, 
crafty,  bold,  nervous;  and  what  aggravates  every 
bad  quality,  they  are  the  sons  of  wealthy  parents 
who  have  left  them  to  the  care  of  nurses,  which 
means  that  they  have  been  allowed  to  do  as  they 
please." 

In  this  school  work  he  was  assisted  by  his 
younger  brother,  Henry,  who  was  at  that  time  pre- 
paring for  College,  but  who  later  was  obliged,  on 
account  of  ill  health,  to  forego  this  plan.  While  in 
Albany  Frank  attended  the  church  of  Dr.  Kennedy, 
and  writes  of  "  busy  Sabbaths,"  being  "  a  member 
of  the  choir,  attending  two  sessions  of  Sunday 
School  and  two  church  services." 

In  the  early  spring  of  this  year  he  received  from 
Michigan  an  offer  to  act  as  principal  in  a  school 
of  seven  hundred  pupils;  but  shortly  after  decided 
to  accept  a  similar  position  proffered  him  in  Ba- 
tavia,  N.  Y.,  as  this  was  nearer  home.  His 
friend,  Andrew,  fell  heir  to  his  Albany  school,  and 
to  him  he  sold  his  classroom  outfit,  giving  him 
meanwhile  the  benefit  of  his  experience : — 

"  The  employment  of  teaching  is  an  honourable 


34  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

one  when  honestly  and  patiently  pursued.  One  has 
no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  the  calling.  But  you 
must  expect  to  act  boldly,  to  make  your  elbows  felt 
among  the  jostling  crowd;  and  you  must  expect 
many  a  fit  of  the  blues.  In  the  Batavia  school  I 
shall  have  seven  teachers  under  me,  and  as  it  is 
one  of  the  first  schools  in  Western  New  York,  I 
rather  fear  the  high  responsibilities  of  the  station; 
but  my  experience  in  Albany  has  afforded  a  disci- 
pline which  forbids  me  to  shrink  from  any  under- 
taking because  it  appears  hard.  .  .  .  The  in- 
crease in  salary  is  not  my  main  object  in  going.  My 
duties  here  are  growing  easy — and  lose  their  interest 
to  some  extent.  Perhaps  this  characteristic  is  a 
peculiarity  of  mine.  In  Batavia  my  interest  and 
attention  will  be  constantly  on  the  stretch,  and  I 
shall  feel  myself  grappling  with  a  great  responsi- 
bility. This,  I  take  it,  is  the  true  discipline  for  a 
young  man — the  real  pabulum  of  improvement." 
(How  like  his  kinsman.  Dr.  Samuel  Gridley  Howe, 
whose  homely  watchword  it  was,  that  "  obstacles 
were  things  which  were  made  to  be  overcome.") 

On  May  ist  he  left  for  Batavia,  where  he  re- 
mained for  almost  a  year. 


Ill— I85I-I854 

SEMINARY  DAYS — MARRIAGE — PASTOR  AT 
BELVEDERE^   N.   J. 

IN  185 1    Cincinnati   must   have   seemed  to  the 
young  man  well  toward  the  setting  sun,  but  a 
twofold  bait  drew  him  thither  early  in  that 
year, — the  fame  of  Dr.  Beecher  at  Lane  Seminary, 
and  the  opportunity  to  prepare  two  young  men  for 
College. 

"  Necessity,"  he  writes,  "  has  been  my  mistress 
thus  far  in  life,  and  still  holds  on.  Perhaps  I  have 
some  reason  to  thank  her  for  what  she  has  done, 
and  yet,  her  grasp  of  hand,  and  her  stern  voice  seem 
very  harsh  and  unlady-like  at  times."  The  family 
with  whom  he  lived,  and  where  he  taught,  were 
people  of  wealth  and  fashion,  which  had  its  effect 
upon  his  susceptible  youth.  "  I  find,"  he  says,  "  that 
I  have  to  struggle  hard  against  a  sort  of  worldly 
ambition  which  is  constantly  trying  to  get  itself 
mixed  with  my  best  purposes  of  consecration.  I 
know  not  where  the  assailable  point  will  be  with 
you,  Andrew  (his  friend  was  about  to  study  for 
the  ministry),  but  you  must  expect  to  be  attacked, 
and  that  desperately.  You  will  be  almost  over- 
come in  the  '  Slough  of  Despond '  sometimes,  but 

35 


36  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

always,  like  Christian,  be  sure  and  get  out  of  it  on 
the  side  toward  Heaven."  The  many-sided  tem- 
perament of  the  young  student  presented,  in  truth, 
no  dead  level  of  goodness.  He  was  fastidious,  often 
critical  in  tendency,  and  caustic  in  expression.  In 
the  following  description  of  a  bore,  written  later 
in  his  Seminary  experience,  he  evidently  gives  vent 
to  long  pent-up  disgust. 

"  N.  is  here;  entertains  me  with  his  eating  and 
drinking  as  in  days  of  yore.  The  noises  which  he 
makes  are  about  all  that  break  the  solemn  silence. 
Confound  his  everlasting  innocence!  He  does  not 
know  but  that  I  am  pleased  with  his  performances. 
Man  can't  offend  him  or  shame  him,  and  there  is 
no  use  in  fighting  with  him.  It  is  like  kicking  a 
dead  sheep."  The  same  fastidiousness  caused 
him,  when  a  child,  to  provoke  battle  with  another 
small  boy,  who  in  eating  would  smear  himself  with 
butter. 

The  reasons  for  his  next  important  step  are  given 
in  a  letter  under  date  of  August  i8th,  1851.  "It 
is  now  almost  a  certainty  that  I  enter  upon  my 
second  Seminary  year  at  Auburn,  at  the  opening 
of  the  coming  term.  Why  do  I  leave  Cincinnati? 
One  of  my  boys  is  ready  for  college  and  will  enter 
Yale  in  September,  and  the  other  is  so  much  out 
of  health  of  late,  that  he  will  probably  not  be  able 
to  study  through  the  year.  And  as  the  opportunity 
for  teaching  was  my  chief  reason  for  coming  to  Lane 
Seminary,  so  will  the  loss  of  this  opportunity  send 
me  at  once  to  some  better  appointed  Institution  at 


SEMINARY  DAYS  37 

the  East.  Since  I  came  West  Doctors  Beecher  and 
Stowe  have  resigned,  they  who  formed  in  my  opin- 
ion the  chief  attractions  of  the  place.  I  attended 
Dr.  Beecher's  lectures  in  the  Spring,  and  by  hear- 
ing, questioning,  sponging  and  copying,  I  succeeded 
in  getting  his  whole  system  of  Theology,  which  I 
think  is  the  very  best  in  the  country — in  the  world. 
During  the  summer  I  have  copied  Dr.  Stowe's  lec- 
tures from  the  copious  notes  of  students,  and  have 
been  over  the  history  of  the  first  year.  Hebrew  I 
have  been  studying  without  a  teacher,  save  a  few 
lessons  at  first  on  the  pronunciation." 

In  his  choice  of  Auburn  he  was  influenced  by 
Professor  North  of  Hamilton  College,  and  by  his 
uncle  Dr.  Samuel  Gridley.  "  Moreover,"  he  says, 
"  in  one  important  respect  Auburn  is  decidedly 
ahead,  viz. :  the  high  tone  of  piety,  of  true  mission- 
ary consecration;  and  what  most  I  need  is  deep 
heartfelt  devotion  to  my  work." 

And  again,  under  date  of  December  4th,  he  wrote 
from  that  Seminary: — "  With  the  studies  which  are 
now  occupying  me,  the  middle  year  at  Auburn  is 
truly  precious.  If  you  wish  to  behold  the  truths 
of  Mental  Philosophy,  Ethics,  and  Theology  (gen- 
erally much  confused),  brought  out  and  placed  in 
rank  and  file,  with  details  clear  and  the  perspective 
straight,  you  must  hear  Dr.  Hickok." 

This  Seminary  year  was  further  enriched  by  a 
spiritual  experience  which  profoundly  impressed 
the  young  man.     Sunday  School  work  in  both  hi§ 


38  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

church  and  the  prison  engaged  his  attention,  and 
to  his  friend  he  writes : — 

"  I  have  a  class  of  young  ladies  in  the  First 
Church  of  Auburn,  nine  in  all — two  professing 
Christians,  and  seven  impenitent.  One  day  after  a 
faithful  sermon  from  Dr.  Hickok  I  threw  aside  the 
ordinary  lesson  and  talked  to  them  individually  on 
Procrastination,  the  subject  of  his  discourse.  All 
were  free  to  talk,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  become 
Christians.  On  being  asked  the  question,  they  an- 
swered that  they  were  willing  to  ask  God  to  make 
them  such.  I  then  proposed  that  for  one  week  we 
all  at  9  o'clock  p.m.  retire  to  our  closets  and  pray 
for  that  blessing  for  the  unconverted,  and  they  pray 
for  themselves.  All  agreed.  When  next  we  came 
together  all  were  feeling  deeply.  During  the  week 
I  made  calls  for  conversation  and  prayer.  The  9 
o'clock  prayer  was  kept  up.  Next  Sabbath  four 
were  indulging  a  hope  and  last  Sabbath  the  whole 
seven  were  in  the  same  joyful  condition.  A  whole 
class  all  rejoicing!  Never  was  I  permitted  to  enjoy 
such  an  interview  before.  I  felt  like  falling  to  the 
dust  when  I  remembered  that  God's  blessing  had 
been  so  richly  poured  out  upon  those  under  my  care, 
when  I  was  so  cold,  so  destitute  of  faith.  It  seemed 
almost  as  if  the  class  had  passed  over  me  in  my  sleep 
and  come  to  the  Cross.  It  taught  me  two  things ! 
First,  that  it  is  God  and  not  man  that  converts  the 
soul.  Second,  that  He  does  it  often  by  very  feeble 
and  imperfect  instruments.  Andrew,  I  love  that 
class,  oh  how  much!  Is  this  the  joy  that  a 
pastor  is  to  have  when  he  labours  to  bring  the 


SEMINARY  DAYS  39 

young  to  the  Great  Shepherd?     Then  let  me  be  a 
Pastor ! " 

In  later  years  he  "  had  occasion  to  learn  that  one 
and  another  of  this  class  had  dated  their  conversion 
from  that  time,  and  so  far  as  known,  all  had  re- 
mained faithful." 

His  convict  class  also  claimed  his  sympathy  and 
interest. 

"  Of  course,"  he  writes,  "  v^e  meet  with  much 
craft  and  hypocrisy  among  such  men,  and  learn 
to  detect  it  readily,  but  one  of  my  class  has,  I  trust, 
found  the  Saviour." 

Throughout  this  period  of  his  life,  ill-health  was 
often  added  to  other  discouragements.  His  college 
course  had  been  more  than  once  interrupted  by 
that  cause,  and  during  the  year  out  West  he  had 
spent  several  weeks  in  Cleveland  for  the  baths,  and 
had  taken  a  horseback  tour  of  260  miles.  "  A  roll- 
ing stone,  you  will  say,"  he  writes,  "  but  I  have  been 
obliged  to  roll  for  my  health."  In  the  spring  of 
1852  he  was  again  much  reduced  in  strength  by 
reason  of  repeated  bronchial  colds,  "  induced,"  he 
says,  "  by  the  winds  from  these  New  York  lakes, 
which  have  been  hard  on  many  of  our  students." 
This  fact  seems  to  have  turned  his  thoughts  to  the 
milder  climate  of  California,  and  the  mission 
field  there  opened  by  the  gold  diggers  of  '49.  It 
appears  that  he  wrote  to  the  Home  Mission  Board 
in  regard  to  such  a  position;  but  the  question  was 


40  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

finally    settled    otherwise,    for    on    May    27th    he 
writes : — 

"  I  am  to  go  to  Princeton,  if  spared.  Only  three 
weeks  more  here.  Dr.  Hickok  has  taken  me 
through  his  entire  course,  and  Dr.  Hodge  may  so 
far  modify  me  as  to  get  a  fair  medium  between 
the  theological  Scylla  and  Charybdis  of  the  present 
day." 

His  friend,  Andrew  Morse,  who  was  with  him  at 
Princeton,  writes  many  years  later : — 

"  Coming  from  Auburn  and  imbued  with  its 
theology,  he  yet  in  classroom,  chapel,  and  Dr. 
Hodge's  home  study,  impressed  all  with  his  scholar- 
ship, manliness  and  Christian  character." 

It  was  during  this  winter  that  the  young  man 
enjoyed  his  first  great  musical  treat.  He  heard 
Jenny  Lind  sing  in  New  York,  and  never  after 
could  decide  which  captivated  him  the  more,  her 
voice  or  naive  and  charming  personality.  P.  T. 
Barnum  had  brought  her  to  America;  she  was 
thrilling  great  audiences  at  Castle  Garden,  and  on 
this  particular  evening  brought  down  the  house  by 
a  little  touch  of  nature.  Suddenly  forgetting  the 
words  of  her  song,  she  stood  for  one  instant  startled 
and  blushing,  then  broke  into  a  little  laugh,  and 
clapping  her  hands  before  her  mouth,  ran  off  the 
stage. 

The  preceding  summer  had  proved  an  important 


SEMINARY  DAYS  41 

one  in  Frank  Ellinwood's  life.  He  had  been 
licensed  to  preach  in  May,  and  July  found  him  fill- 
ing the  pulpit  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Shumway  in  Newark, 
Wayne  County,  N.  Y.  While  there  he  met  Miss 
Rowana  Hurd  of  New  York,  who  was  at  that  time 
visiting  her  sister,  Mrs.  Orrin  Blackmar  of  Newark. 
This  acquaintance  ripened  into  mutual  affection,  and 
later  into  an  engagement  of  marriage. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  Princeton  year  he 
preached  at  Belvedere,  N.  J.,  and  for  several  months 
thereafter  the  march  of  events  was  rapid.  He 
writes : — 

"  I  have  been  enticed  into  spending  a  week  in 
Belvedere,  the  charms  of  via  New  York  to  the  con- 
trary notwithstanding.  There  is  a  good  work  to 
be  done  here,  and  I  find  that  even  /  can  be  sober  and 
thoughtful  and  experience  a  desire  to  bring  men 
into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven!  ...  I  long  to 
sit  down  some  day  and  make  the  acquaintance  of 
myself — to  analyze  this  strange  fusion  of  strong 
and  conflicting  elements — to  take  my  latitude  and 
longitude,  make  an  invoice  of  my  mental  and  moral 
furniture,  and  then  invest  to  some  advantage  for 
somebody.  I  pray  that  God  will  suppress  or  control 
the  power  of  impulse  within  me,  and  train  me  for 
His  service." 

On  May  10,  1853,  he  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton Semiinary;  in  the  same  month  was  licensed  by 
the  Presbytery  of  Cayuga;  on  June  21st,  was  or- 


42  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

daiiied  by  the  Fourth  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia, 
and  installed  in  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Belvedere;  and  on  June  30th  was  married  to 
Miss  Rowana  Hurd.  The  wedding  took  place  in 
New  York  at  the  home  of  her  father,  Orville  Hurd. 
The  house,  a  broad,  old-fashioned,  red  brick  resi- 
dence, adorned  with  iron  balconies  and  steps,  still 
stands  on  East  Twenty-seventh  Street. 
He  writes : — 

"  You  have  seen  in  the  Tribune  and  the  Observer 
that  we  were  married  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bauman, 
Dr.  Cheever,  Dr.  Adams  and  Dr.  James  Alexander 
on  whom  I  called,  being  out  of  town.  The  cere- 
mony was  at  3  p.m.  and  we  left  the  Hudson  River 
Railroad  station  at  4 :  30  for  Albany.  Next  day  to 
Niagara,  next  to  Pembroke.  We  visited  in  our 
course,  Batavia,  Newark,  Clifton,  Palmyra,  and 
Geneva.  My  relatives  were  delighted  with  the  new 
daughter  and  sister." 

And  again  in  September : — 

"  Andrew,  I  am  fairly  out  on  the  ocean  life.  I 
feel  it.  I  am  not  the  boy  who  could  run  about  the 
fields  of  Princeton,  or  into  the  room  of  a  chum  to 
chat,  independent  of  the  opinions  of  others.  I 
am  a  measured  quasi  man,  and  have  to  lay  aside 
my  nonsense  (except  when  handwriting  to  you) 
and  guard  my  tongue.  .  .  .  Our  cottage  is 
beautiful  and  we  shall  soon  be  in  it.  But  I  long 
for  more  life  and  stir  than  we  have  here.     My 


\ 


MARRIAGE  43 

sympathies  are  west,  where  one  need  not  have  to 
wait  for  souls  to  be  born  and  grow  to  manhood, 
before  one  can  build  up  a  church." 

Belvedere  was  in  truth  ill-suited  to  one  so  ener- 
getic, and  ambitious  for  growth  in  his  work.  It 
was  a  small  place  dominated  by  one  or  two  rich 
families,  and  at  that  time  visited  only  by  a  daily 
stagecoach.  And  though  the  young  couple  made 
lifelong  friends,  and  members  were  added  to  the 
church,  still  the  husband  chafed  at  the  narrowness 
of  the  field.  The  following  spring  brought  him  two 
calls — one  to  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  and  one  to  Harris- 
burg,  Pa.  Both  of  these  he  refused,  as  he  had 
promised  his  congregation  not  to  leave  them  that 
summer.  But  in  the  autumn  he  accepted  a  call  to 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  in  October  took  charge  of 
the  Washington  Street  Church  of  that  city. 


IV— i8s4-i866 

PASTOR    AT    ROCHESTER^    N.    Y. THE    CIVIL    WAR 

FIRST     TRIP     ABROAD PERSONAL     CHARACTERIS- 
TICS  DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE JOURNEY  TO  SPAIN 

AND   THE    HOLY   LAND — LEAVES   ROCHESTER 

IN  Rochester  the  young  pastor  found  full  scope 
for  his  powers.  The  church  was  small,  with  a 
membership  of  less  than  300,  and  into  the 
work  of  building  up  he  threw  himself  with  all  that 
enthusiasm,  untiring  energy,  and  zeal  for  Christ's 
kmgdom  which  always  distinguished  him.  In  these 
labours  he  was  nobly  seconded  by  his  young  wife, 
a  woman  of  consecrated  Christian  character,  self- 
sacrificing  and  conscientious.  Results  soon  fol- 
lowed; the  congregation  grew  so  rapidly  that  in 
eighteen  months  the  church  society  began  looking 
for  a  location  whereon  to  build  a  larger  edifice ;  and 
two  years  later  they  completed  and  dedicated  a 
beautiful  new  church  on  Sophia  Street,  renaming 
it  "  The  Central  Church."  It  was  doubtless  during 
these  days  that  the  following  incident  took  place. 
Funds  were  imperatively  needed,  and  an  uncle  re- 
lates that  he  was  present  during  an  informal  meet- 
ing held  to  discuss  this  subject.  There  appeared 
to  be  but  one  avenue  of  assistance  open.    A  wealthy 

44 


PASTOR  AT  ROCHESTER  45 

bachelor  lived  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city  who  might 
be  induced  to  give,  but  whom  nobody  liked  to  ap- 
proach, as  he  was  not  noted  for  liberality.  Finally 
the  young  pastor  volunteered  to  undertake  it,  where- 
upon an  elder  jumped  to  his  feet,  exclaiming:  "  No 
time  like  the  present.  My  sleigh  is  at  the  door." 
It  was  a  bitter  night,  but  wrapped  to  the  ears 
in  a  big  grey  shawl, — such  as  men  in  the  fifties  af- 
fected,— Mr.  Ellinwood  was  driven  away,  while 
the  others  waited.    He  returned  shortly,  triumphant. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  the  city  passed 
through  a  great  spiritual  awakening.  Dr.  Lyman 
Beecher  has  since  said  that  "  the  religious  revival 
conducted  by  Mr.  Finney  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  was 
the  greatest  revival  of  the  Christian  Era." 
Whether  he  referred  to  the  one  held  there  in  1855, 
or  to  that  which  occurred  a  few  years  previously, 
cannot  be  definitely  stated.  But  Mr.  Ellinwood 
never  forgot  the  impression  made  on  his  mind  by 
these  meetings.  In  after  years  he  spoke  many  times 
of  the  wonderful  power  which  Mr.  Finney  exer- 
cised, not  only  over  the  popular  mind,  but  over  the 
lawyers,  the  deep  thinkers,  and  the  business 
men. 

In  Rochester  the  young  clergyman  speedily  at- 
tained reputation  as  a  forceful  and  eloquent 
preacher.  The  large  auditorium,  always  well  filled 
at  morning  service,  was  in  the  evenings  crowded, 
the  galleries  and  even  the  aisles  being  full.  Wm.  A. 
Hubbard,  Jr.,  of  Rochester,  writes : — 


46  FRANK  FIELD  ELIJNWOOD 

"  Your  father  was  pre-eminently  the  young  peo- 
ple's pastor.  His  preaching  and  pastoral  work,  the 
Sabbath  School,  the  children's  concerts,  all  combined 
to  draw  them  in  such  large  numbers  that  the  '  Cen- 
tral '  became  famous  as  the  church  especially  popu- 
lar with  the  youth  of  the  city.  I  can  myself  remem- 
ber the  carrying  in  of  chairs,  filling  the  aisles  until 
the  fire  marshal  forbade  it.  Then  were  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  large  Sunday  School  classes,  and 
prosperous  young  people's  Societies  which  have  ever 
since  distinguished  the  church. 

In  this  feature  of  his  work  your  father  had  a 
grand  co-worker  in  George  W.  Parsons.  I  wish 
some  record  had  been  made  of  the  wonderful  evan- 
gelistic services  held  in  the  winters  of  1863  and  '64 
in  the  Central  Church." 

Mr.  Hammond,  "  the  children's  evangelist," 
aided  in  this  work,  and  at  one  communion  service 
over  one  hundred  people  joined  the  church.  Mr. 
Hubbard  continues : — 

"  From  1 86 1  to  1864  nearly  four  hundred  men, 
if  I  remember  correctly,  entered  the  army  and  navy 
from  our  school  and  congregation."  (The  Bible 
classes  contributing  one  hundred  and  sixteen,  of 
whom  twenty  gave  their  lives  for  the  Union.) 

There  was  a  thrilling  evening  service  in  the  early 
months  of  the  war,  when  the  first  company  which 
left,  filed  into  the  body  of  the  church  for  a  farewell 
meeting.  The  young  pastor  rose  to  the  occasion, 
and  when  at  the  close  of  his  solemn  service  the 


THE  CIVIL  WAR  47 

soldier  boys  marched  out,  many  of  them  never  to 
return,  there  was  a  moment  of  intense  emotion. 
Two  of  those  boys,  David  Maguire  and  Theron 
Parsons,  attended  recently,  as  gray-haired  veterans, 
the  funeral  of  that  beloved  pastor. 

It  so  happened  that  at  the  time  Fort  Sumter  was 
fired  upon,  Mr.  Ellinwood  was  enjoying  his  first 
trip  abroad,  whither  he  had  gone  with  Dr.  George 
Dana  Boardman,  the  popular  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  of  Rochester.  Though  shocked  and  sad- 
dened by  the  tidings,  they  carried  out  their  itinerary, 
visiting  England,  Scotland,  France,  Italy,  and  Swit- 
zerland; but  the  keen  edge  of  their  pleasure  was 
destroyed.  Throughout  the  war  his  heart  was  w4th 
the  men  at  the  front,  and  particularly  with  those 
who  had  gone  from  his  church.  In  April,  1864, 
in  company  with  Dr.  Booth  and  Dr.  Duryea  of  New 
York,  he  visited  Washington  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Christian  Commission,  and  during  his  ten  days' 
stay  preached  fifteen  times  to  the  soldiers,  riding 
many  miles  from  camp  to  camp. 

It  was  during  his  Rochester  pastorate  that  Mr. 
Ellinwood  gave,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  full  play 
to  his  social  instincts.  His  years  of  struggle  and 
preparation  were  past.  He  was  young,  successful 
in  his  work,  and  in  a  congenial  atmosphere ;  and  he 
possessed  to  a  marked  degree  the  faculty  for  making 
friends.  To  an  attractive  face,  and  genial,  respon- 
sive manner,  were  added  good  conversational 
powers,   a  musical   well-modulated   voice,   a  keen 


48  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

sense  of  humour,  and  a  genuine  love  for  his  fellow- 
men.  But  that  which  rendered  him  especially  be- 
loved was  the  deep  well-spring  of  sympathy  within 
his  heart.  It  was  the  keynote  of  his  success  as  a 
pastor.  In  all  cases  of  sickness,  bereavement,  or 
desperate  need,  it  was  given  so  abundantly  as  to 
often  exhaust  him.  Sympathy  gave  to  his  prayers 
a  peculiar  fervour  and  efficacy.  Just  before  the 
death  of  Dr.  George  Bacon  in  Orange,  N.  J.,  he 
requested  that  Dr.  Ellinwood  come  and  pray  with 
him,  adding  that  **  his  were  the  only  prayers  he 
wished  for,  unless  he  might  have  those  of  his  own 
father "  (the  venerable  Dr.  Bacon  of  New 
Haven).  And  in  late  years  one  of  Dr.  Ellinwood's 
sons-in-law  has  said  of  his  prayers  that  he  "  never 
heard  any  to  equal  them,  except  those  of  his  fa- 
ther " — the  late  President  Woolsey. 

The  pastor's  sympathy  was  not  confined  to  his 
fellow-men.  Like  Lincoln  and  Charles  Kingsley 
he  was  tender-hearted  toward  animals  and  all 
living  things.  The  "  under-dog "  appealed  to 
him  figuratively  and  literally,  for  once  in  the 
streets  of  Damascus  he  broke  a  cane  in  pieces  be- 
labouring a  large  dog  which  had  attacked  a 
smaller  one.  That  law  of  the  animal  kingdom 
which  provides  for,  or  at  least  allows,  the  strong 
to  prey  upon  the  weak,  found  him  always 
unreconciled.  His  family  remember  his  sudden 
depression,  when  he  was  ill  at  one  time  in  New 
York,  over  the  death  of  a  half-grown  stray  kitten, 


PERSONAL  CHARACTERISTICS       49 

which  had  been  killed  overnight  in  the  area  by 
larger  cats.  And  in  his  Cornwall  home  he  once 
devoted  hours  to  the  nursing  of  an  injured  bird, 
till  finally  it  devolved  upon  him  to  put  the  little 
thing  out  of  misery.  This  cost  him  a  real  pang, 
and  hours  afterward  he  confessed  to  "  still  feeling 
the  flutter  of  the  tiny  heart  against  his  palm  as  he 
held  it  under  water." 

His  sense  of  humour  was  almost  as  keen  as  his 
sympathy,  and  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following 
incident.  While  still  a  young  man  he  took,  one  sum- 
mer, a  trip  to  the  Adirondacks,  his  travelling  com- 
panion being  again  Dr.  George  Dana  Boardman, 
and  also  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fowler  of  Auburn.  At  Blue 
Mountain  Lake  they  encountered  three  bears;  and 
on  the  shores  of  this  lake  many  years  later  Dr. 
Ellinwood  built  for  his  family  a  rustic  camp.  Fur- 
ther in  the  wilderness  they  visited  a  mountain  Sun- 
day School,  and  during  the  exercises  had  more  than 
once  difficulty  in  restraining  unseemly  mirth — but 
when  a  small  boy  rose  to  read  his  Bible  verse,  and 
spelled  out  "  J-o-r-d-a-n — Jordan,"  and  the  teacher 
solemnly  corrected  him  "Jurdan"  Dr.  Fowler's 
amusement  became  audible.  To  cover  his  embar- 
rassment he  sought  the  water  pail,  but  when  he 
lifted  an  empty  dipper  and  stood  for  a  moment 
helpless,  all  three  disgraced  themselves  and  beat  a 
hasty  retreat.  That  night  Mr.  Ellinwood  was  to 
preach  in  the  same  room,  and  he  fully  determined 
to  retrieve  his  dignity,  but  his  purpose  was  well- 


50  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

nigh  thwarted  by  a  fat  baby  who  escaped  from  its 
mother,  crept  upon  the  platform,  and  clinging  to 
his  legs,  tried  to  rise  and  stand  beside  him.  In 
after  life  he  would  recount  this  experience  with 
tears  of  helpless  laughter. 

It  was  during  the  earlier  days  of  their  Rochester 
life  that  the  young  couple  experienced  their  first 
keen  sorrow.  In  the  summer  following  their  arri- 
val in  the  city  a  little  daughter  was  born,  but  two 
years  later  the  father  wrote: — 

"  Sad  changes  have  come  over  my  home — Our 
dear  little  Hattie,  after  weaving  her  golden  web 
around  our  fond  hearts  for  nineteen  months,  left 
us  for  Heaven.  She  had  become  old  enough  to 
watch  for  me  when  I  came  home;  and  her  little 
silver  utterance  of  '  Papa,'  at  the  bottom  of  the 
hall  stairs  at  the  hour  of  tea  will  never  cease  to 
echo  in  my  ears  and  heart.  But,  Andrew,  it  is 
good  to  have  a  tender  chord  sadly  vibrating  day  by 
day.    It  is  good  to  be  afflicted." 

Throughout  his  life,  children  gave  to  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  such  keen  delight, — they  formed  for  him  so 
large  a  part  of  the  joy  of  living, — that  it  is  well 
others  were  sent  to  take  the  place  of  the  little  one 
who  had  died.  As  a  fitting  home  for  his  growing 
family,  he  built  an  attractive  house  on  Plymouth 
Avenue,  one  of  the  desirable  residence  sections  of 
the  city.     One  short  happy  year  was  spent  in  this 


DEATH  OF  HIS  WIFE  51 

home  when  a  crushing  blow  fell.  The  wife  and 
mother  was  suddenly  taken  from  them.  The  fol- 
lowing tribute  to  her  memory  is  quoted  from  a 
Rochester  paper: — 

"  We  write  this  week  from  the  depths  of  a  sud- 
den and  peculiar  sorrow.  The  wife  of  our  dear 
friend  and  beloved  brother,  Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood, 
of  the  Central  Church  of  this  city,  died  on  Monday 
evening  of  this  week,  August  29th,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-three  years.  Her  disease  was  diphtheria.  She 
was,  to  all  appearances,  in  her  usual  good  health 
only  four  days  before.  Her  husband  had  just  re- 
turned from  his  summer  vacation,  and  their  home 
was  full  of  joy  and  promise.  To-day  all  is  changed. 
Her  Christian  character  was  marked  by  great  con- 
scientiousness, and  she  set  her  standard  high.  To 
those  who  knew  her  best,  her  character  seemed  al- 
most faultless;  the  model  wife  of  a  model  pastor. 
Certainly,  one  more  discreet,  more  unselfish,  more 
ready,  more  constant  in  all  good  offices,  both  in 
her  public  and  private  relations,  it  has  never  been 
our  happy  privilege  to  know.  The  law  of  kindness 
was  always  on  her  lips.  Gentle,  earnest  and  effi- 
cient, tender-hearted,  loving  and  self-denying,  yet 
firm  and  resolute,  like  one  moved  by  mighty  impulses 
from  heaven,  she  went  about  doing  good.  She 
visited  much  among  her  husband's  large  parish, 
never  forgetting  or  neglecting  the  poor,  the  sick 
and  the  afflicted.  She  had  no  enemies,  and  all  the 
parish  are  mourning  for  her  as  for  a  particular 
personal  friend." 


52  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Left  with  three  little  motherless  girls,  the  young- 
est a  baby  of  a  year,  the  lonely  man  struggled  on 
with  his  work,  but  two  months  later,  at  the  close 
of  a  Sunday  morning  service,  he  seriously  collapsed. 
His  sympathetic  congregation  decided  that  he  must 
have  change  and  a  rest,  and  shortly  thereafter  he 
embarked  at  Boston  on  a  fast  sailing  vessel  for  the 
south  of  Spain,  going  later  to  Egypt  and  the  Holy 
Land.  William  Ailing,  Jr.,  of  Rochester  accom- 
panied him. 

The  Spain  of  that  day  is  thus  described  by 
Maurice  Hewlett: — 

"  A  great  roomy,  haggard  country,  half  desert 
waste  and  half  bare  rock,  immemorially  old,  immut- 
ably the  same."  But  this  forbidding  aspect  did  not 
strike  Dr.  Ellinwood.  Washington  Irving's  "Al- 
hambra  "  had  companioned  him  on  the  voyage,  and 
he  saw  Granada  and  all  Spain  through  the  glamour 
of  its  pages. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Nile  he  came  in  touch  with 
a  romance  in  real  life,  so  extraordinary  as  to  sug- 
gest an  Arabian  Nights'  tale.  The  handsome  young 
Maharajah  of  India — Duleep  Singh — was  its  pic- 
turesque hero.  A  little  slave-born  Copt  maid,  living 
in  a  back  street  of  Cairo  and  eating  with  her  fingers, 
was  the  heroine.  Deprived  of  throne  and  country 
by  the  British  Government,  the  Prince  was  yet  pet- 
ted by  the  Queen,  and  feted  by  the  nobility,  while 
more  than  one  high-born  dame  manifested  the  will- 
ingness of  a  "  Barkis."    But  an  English  wife  wavS 


TO  SPAIN  AND  THE  HOLY  LAND      53 

not  to  his  mind.  He  wanted  an  Oriental  and  yet 
a  Christian.  Passing  through  Cairo  the  previous 
year,  he  had  visited  the  American  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion, where  the  face  of  a  young  native  teacher  ar- 
rested his  attention.  The  visits  to  the  Mission 
were  repeated  till  finally  he  interviewed  the  mission- 
aries, and  through  them  laid  at  her  feet  his  royal 
title  and  the  wealth  of  the  Indies.  Her  reply  was  a 
flat  refusal.  But  eager  friends  finally  overruled  all 
objections.  At  the  wedding,  princely  sums  were  set- 
tled upon  her,  and  jewels  literally  worth  a  king's 
ransom;  while  the  Mission  profited  likewise  from 
the  generosity  of  the  Prince.  On  their  bridal  trip, 
Duleep  Singh  *  took  a  fancy  to,  and  purchased  the 
missionary  dahabeah  which  had  been  already  en- 
gaged by  Dr.  EUinwood  and  his  party,  providing, 
however,  another  equally  good.  The  princess,  in 
the  meantime,  had  become  familiar  with  the  use  of 
knife  and  fork,  and  with  other  social  amenities,  and 
during  these  business  negotiations  Dr.  EUinwood 
called  upon  her  at  the  home  of  a  mutual  friend, 
finding  her  modest  sweetness  as  yet  unspoiled. 

*  In  July,  1909,  the  following  paragraph  appeared  in  the 
New  York  Times: — 

"  Princess  Pauline  Duleep  Singh  arrived  yesterday  on  the 
North  German  Lloyd  liner  Kronprinsessin  Cecilie,  on  a  three 
months'  visit  to  this  country.  She  is  the  eldest  daughter  of 
the  late  Maharajah  Duleep  Singh  by  his  second  wife  whom 
he  married  in  Russia.  She  has  two  half-brothers,  Prince 
Victor  and  Prince  Frederick  Duleep  Singh.  Her  father  was 
the  son  of  the  '  Liqn  of  Lahore.' " 


54  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

His  letters  from  Spain  and  tlie  East  were  pub- 
lished in  the  Rochester  Democrat  and  in  the  New 
York  Evangelist,  being  received  with  such  marked 
favour  that  the  editors,  Robert  Carter  ^d  Henry 
M.  Field,  wrote  to  him  recommending  their  publi- 
cation in  book  form. 

On  his  return  in  the  spring  he  took  up  once  more 
the  full  burden  of  pastoral  work,  but  only  to  lay  it 
down  in  the  fall  for  ever.  It  was  a  sad  day  for 
church  and  pastor  when  his  resignation  was  handed 
in,  but  his  strength  was  found  to  be  no  longer  equal 
to  the  strain.  When  the  news  of  this  step  spread 
through  the  city,  Mr.  Levi  A.  Ward  (who  built  St. 
Peter's  Presbyterian  Church  in  Rochester)  re- 
marked, "  There  is  a  man  who  never  said  a  foolish 
thing." 

It  was  at  this  crisis  in  his  affairs  that  a  letter  was 
received  from  Chancellor  Ferris,  stating  that  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York  had  conferred 
upon  him  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

Upon  leaving  Rochester,  a  small  house  at 
Clifton  Springs  was  taken  for  himself  and  chil- 
dren, and  the  winter  was  devoted  to  recuperation, 
but  though  devoted  friends  from  the  Central  Church 
cheered  him  by  repeated  visits,  it  was  nevertheless 
a  period  of  deep  depression  and  loneliness.  The 
spring  found  him  still  so  far  from  strong  that  out- 
door occupation  was  recommended,  and  he  turned 
to  grape  culture.  Seven  miles  above  Geneva,  on 
the  western  shore  of  Seneca  Lake,  his  wife's  uncle 


LEAVES  ROCHESTER  55 

had  a  beautiful  and  extensive  farm.  A  deep  ravine 
ran  back  from  the  Lake  to  a  waterfall,  and  on  its 
sunny  slopes  the  trees  were  felled,  the  land  re- 
claimed, and  in  partnership  with  his  uncle  he 
planted  one  of  the  pioneer  vineyards  of  Western 
New  York.  The  venture  was  a  marked  success, 
and  the  vineyard  is  still  in  operation,  though  it  has 
long  since  changed  hands. 


V— 1866-1871 

REMOVAL    TO    NEW    YORK SECRETARY    OF    CHURCH 

ERECTION      COMMITTEE MARRIAGE HOME      AT 

ORANGE,    N.    J. JOURNEY    TO    CALIFORNIA AS- 
SOCIATE EDITOR  OF  NEW  YORK  "  EVANGELIST  " 

SECRETARY    OF    THE    FIVE    MILLION     MEMORIAL 
FUND. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1866  Dr.  Ellinwood  entered 
upon  his  New  York  work,  becoming  secretary 
for  the  Presbyterian  Committee  of  Church 
Erection.  And  in  the  following  April  he  married 
Miss  Laura  Hurd,  the  younger  sister  of  his  first 
wife.  The  ceremony  took  place  at  Fair  Haven, 
Vt.,  where  Miss  Hurd  had  been  spending  the  win- 
ter with  relatives. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  purchased  land  at  High- 
land Station,  Orange,  N.  J.,  and  on  a  hillside  com- 
manding a  wide  view  of  the  beautiful  Orange  Moun- 
tains, had  built  his  house.  To  this  home  he  brought 
his  family  in  the  following  October;  here  they  con- 
tinued to  live  for  eighteen  years,  and  here  his  two 
younger  daughters  were  born. 

In  the  earlier  months  of  their  residence  in  Orange, 
he  attended  with  his  family  the  First  Presbyterian 

56 


HOME  AT  ORANGE,  NEW  JERSEY      57 

Church  of  that  city,  and  a  Httle  incident  records 
the  impression  he  made  upon  a  member  of  that 
church,  Mr.  William  Iddings.  It  was  at  a  business 
meeting  called  after  the  regular  prayer  meeting, 
during  which  a  heated  debate  took  place.  No  agree- 
ment seemed  possible  "  till  finally,"  said  Mr.  Id- 
dings,  "  a  stranger  arose,  and  in  a  few  quiet  words 
suggested  a  solution.  It  was  oil  upon  the  troubled 
waters,  and  brought  the  meeting  to  a  harmonious 
close." 

At  that  time  no  street  cars  ran  between  Orange 
and  Highland  station,  a  distance  of  over  a  mile. 
Therefore  when  the  beautiful  Congregational 
Church  of  which  Dr.  George  Bacon  was  pastor,  was 
completed  next  door  to  Dr.  EUinwood's  home,  the 
family  attendance  was  transferred  to  that  church. 
Here  he  became  a  power  in  the  prayer  meetings  and 
later  taught  a  large  Bible  class.  The  church  and  so- 
cial relations  were  delightful,  and  the  music  excep- 
tionally fine.  Dr.  William  Mason,  one  of  the  most 
notable  musicians  in  the  country,  was  the  organist, 
and  for  five  minutes  before  each  Sunday  morning 
service,  he  improvised  with  a  beauty  which  touched 
and  subdued  all  hearts.  In  the  earlier  years  the 
congregational  singing  was  inspired  by  the  presence 
of  his  father.  Dr.  Lowell  Mason,  whose  name  is 
associated  with  many  of  our  most  beautiful  hymns. 
Sitting  well  forward  he  generally  rose  a  little  in 
advance  of  the  others,  his  venerable  white  head, 
crowned  by  a  black  velvet  skull  cap,  being  visible 


58  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

to  all,  while  he  led  perhaps  in  the  singing  of  his 
own  Naomi,  Ariel,  or  Olivet. 

To  this  church  came  also  General  George  B.  Mc- 
Clellan.  He  was  at  that  time  living  on  the  Orange 
Mountain,  and  was  a  great  friend  and  admirer  of 
Dr.  Bacon. 

In  1869  Dr.  Ellinwood  made  a  memorable  jour- 
ney to  California.  His  trip  was  in  connection  with 
Church  Erection  work,  but  it  took  on  a  particular 
interest  from  the  fact  that  this  was  the  first  summer 
in  which  railroad  trains  crossed  the  Continent.  It 
was,  indeed,  not  long  after  that  celebrated  loth  of 
May  when  the  Union  Pacific  tracks  met  those  of 
the  Central  Pacific  near  Ogden,  and  in  commemo- 
ration, the  golden  spike  was  driven  by  Governor 
Leland  Stanford  of  California. 

The  new  railroad  ran  through  many  sections  of 
a  truly  Wild  West,  and  in  at  least  two  stops  which 
he  made,  the  traveller  found  himself  in  the  rudest 
environment.  The  buildings  were  frontier  make- 
shifts, filled  with  rough  miners;  and  on  one  occa- 
sion the  room  allotted  him  for  the  night  was  next 
the  barroom,  where  he  was  kept  awake  by  a  mid- 
night shooting  affray,  and  the  reflection  that  only 
a  thin  board  partition  protected  him  from  chance 
bullets. 

At  Salt  Lake  City  he  spent  a  day  or  two,  inter- 
esting himself  in  the  study  of  the  Mormon  problem. 
Here  he  was  introduced  to  Brigham  Young,  and 
was  asked  by  that  Prophet  to  preach  for  him,  but 


JOURNEY  TO  CALIFORNIA  59 

declined  the  honour.  He  attended,  however,  a  meet- 
ing in  the  Tabernacle,  where  he  chanced  upon  a  corn- 
munion  service,  and  where,  instead  of  wine,  dip- 
pers of  water  were  passed  around. 

One  of  his  pleasantest  California  experiences  was 
a  trip  through  the  Yosemite  Valley.  This  was  only 
five  years  after  its  conversion  into  a  State  park, 
and  many  years  before  it  became  a  national  reserva- 
tion. His  party,  mounted  on  horseback,  picked 
its  way  for  weary  miles  over  a  narrow  trail,  till 
suddenly  it  came  upon  the  wonderful  Bridal  Veil 
Falls,  pouring  in  a  white  torrent  from  a  height  of 
nine  hundred  feet.  Here  they  followed  the  example 
set  by  Charles  Kingsley  and  his  party  the  previous 
year,  in  remaining  over  Sunday  and  enjoying  a 
service  under  the  shadow  of  Cathedral  Rock.  In 
order  to  give  those  at  home  some  conception  of 
the  grandeur  of  the  falls,  Dr.  Ellinwood  made  a 
pen-and-ink  drawing.  He  had  always  loved  to 
sketch  whatever  appealed  to  him  as  beautiful  in 
nature,  and  though  entirely  untaught,  his  real  artis- 
tic ability  was  evident.  When,  at  the  age  of  seventy, 
he  first  tried  painting  in  oils,  the  results  achieved, 
were,  as  to  colour,  proportion,  and  perspective,  ex- 
tremely creditable. 

In  the  fall  of  this  year  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field  asked 
Dr.  Ellinwood  to  become  associate  editor  of  the 
New  York  Evangelist,  the  position  having  recently 
become  vacant  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Craighead.  This 
offered  a  field  of  labour  particularly  congenial  to 


6o  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

him,  and  he  accepted,  but  the  arrangement  was  of 
only  a  few  months'  duration.  David  Dudley  and 
Cyrus  W.  Field  represented  to  their  brother  that 
he  would  have  done  better  for  himself,  had  he  sim- 
ply hired  some  editorial  assistance  and  kept  the 
proceeds  of  the  paper  undivided.  This  came  to  the 
ears  of  Dr.  Ellinwood,  and  fearing  that  Dr.  Field 
regretted  the  offer  he  had  made,  he  was  quick  to 
suggest  a  dissolution  of  the  partnership.  The 
friendship  between  the  men,  however,  suffered  no 
break,  as  many  letters  and  gifts  of  books  received 
later  from  Dr.  Field  can  testify. 

In  the  spring  of  this  same  year  Dr.  Ellinwood 
had  been  a  delegate  to  that  famous  General  Assem- 
bly held  in  New  York,  in  which  the  reunion  of  the 
Old  and  New  School  Presbyterians  was  consum- 
mated :  and  he  attended  the  adjourned  meeting  of 
the  Assembly  at  Pittsburgh  the  following  Novem- 
ber, when  that  memorable  procession  formed  in  the 
street  as  the  delegates  of  both  Schools  poured  out 
of  their  respective  places  of  assembly  and  met — 
"  the  Old  and  New  grasping  each  other,  and  amidst 
welcomes,  thanksgivings,  and  tears  locking  arms 
and  marching  together  in  their  re-formed  relations." 

When,  in  the  spring  of  1870,  the  Reunited  Pres- 
byterians proposed  to  raise  as  a  thank-offering  five 
million  dollars,  and  a  Memorial  Fund  Committee 
was  formed,  with  Winthrop  S.  Oilman  as  chairman, 
and  Wm.  E.  Dodge  as  treasurer,  Dr.  Ellinwood 
was  chosen  as  the  right  man  for  Secretary.     This 


SECRETARY  OF  MEMORIAL  FUND     6i 

choice  he  abundantly  justified,  begging  through 
speech  and  pen  with  such  splendid  success  that,  at 
the  next  General  Assembly  held  in  Chicago,  he  was 
able  to  rise  before  a  great  audience  and  announce 
as  raised  a  fund  of  eight  million  dollars  instead  of 
five.  The  enthusiasm  inspired  by  this  announce- 
ment seems  to  have  lived  long  in  the  minds  of  some 
of  those  present.  In  after  years  Dr.  John  Hall 
referred  to  it  more  than  once  in  Sunday  morning 
services  as  a  fine  achievement,  and  twenty-two  years 
after  its  occurrence  a  member  of  the  family,  during 
a  visit  in  Savannah,  Ga.,  was  told  by  Dr.  Dripps, 
pastor  of  the  Independent  Presbyterian  Church  of 
that  city,  that  his  admiration  for  her  father  dated 
from  that  Memorial  Fund  speech,  and  that  he  had 
ever  since  followed  his  career  with  interest. 

For  the  chairman  of  his  committee,  Winthrop  S. 
Gilman,  the  Secretary  formed  an  especially  strong 
regard.  Mr.  Gilman  was  a  New  York  banker,  and 
one  of  the  splendid  Christian  laymen  of  that  time. 
Their  office  was  "  No.  19  Cliff  Street,  third  floor," 
and  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  few  New  York 
buildings  of  that  date  exceeded  three  stories 
in  height.  A.  T.  Stewart's  great  retail  structure 
with  its  five  or  six  stories,  was  a  landmark.  No 
Brooklyn  bridge  spanned  the  river;  the  old  Broad- 
way omnibus  rumbled  up  and  down  over  the  cob- 
bles; and  the  lamplighter,  with  his  little  ladder,  was 
a  familiar  figure  at  dusk. 


VI— 1871-1877 

SECRETARY  FOR  THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS — 
JOURNEY  AROUND  THE  WORLD 

WHILE  still  engaged  on  the  Memorial  Fund, 
Dr.  Ellinwood  was  elected  to  the  Chair 
of  Homiletics,  Church  Government,  and 
Pastoral  Theology,  in  the  Allegheny  Theological 
Seminary.  This  position  he  had  definitely  engaged 
to  fill,  when  he  was  asked  to  become  Secretary  for 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in 
New  York.  Regarding  this,  he  wrote  in  March, 
1871  :— 

"  I  am  in  hot  water  about  going  to  Allegheny, 
or  staying  here  as  Secretary  of  Foreign  Missions. 
I  have  left  it  to  Allegheny  to  say — The  Lord  di- 
rect." 

The  Seminary  finally  released  him  from  this  en- 
gagement, and  he  settled  down  to  thirty-four  years 
of  service  to  the  cause  of  Foreign  Missions.  A  let- 
ter recently  received  from  the  veteran  missionary, 
Rev.  Samuel  Jessup  of  Sidon,  Syria,  refers  affec- 
tionately to  the  early  days  of  the  secretaryship : — 

"  I  learned  long  ago  to  admire  and  love  your  hus- 
band,— beginning  when  I  first  knew  him  in   1872 

62 


SECRETARY  BOARD  OF  MISSIONS     63 

and  1873,  when  he  so  often  took  me  with  him  to 
your  deHghtful  home  in  Orange,  and  where  your 
young  children  quite  stole  my  heart.  I  love  to  recall 
those  days.  He  was  so  active  and  earnest;  so 
thoughtful  for  others;  so  kind  to  missionaries.  It 
was  a  great  pleasure  and  an  education  to  go  with 
him  on  a  tour  among  the  churches,  and  hear  his 
inspiring  and  rousing  addresses.  It  seemed  as  if  he 
could  raise  up  a  dead  people  into  life  and  he  often 
did. 

His  lovely  character  in  his  own  home  when  his 
children  were  small,  I  love  to  recall,  and  to  think 
of  how  much  strength  he  got  from  the  home  life 
to  nerve  him  for  the  incessant  toil  of  his  secretary's 
life.  He  was  one  of  the  marked  men  of  his  times, 
and  for  an  unusually  great  number  of  years." 

In  the  spring  of  1874  Dr.  Ellinwood's  eyes  gave 
out,  as  the  result  of  nerve  strain  and  overwork.  He 
consulted  Dr.  Agnew,  the  oculist,  and  that  gentle- 
man said :  "You  must  take  a  sea  trip,"  and  added, 
"  Tell  the  Board  to  send  you  to  China."  For  some 
time,  and  from  one  and  another  of  the  mission 
fields,  the  cry  had  been  coming,  "  O,  if  the  Board 
would  only  send  some  one  out  here  to  see  for  him- 
self, and  better  understand  conditions,"  and  to  the 
Secretary  the  time  now  seemed  ripe  for  answering 
this  call.  He  accordingly  proposed  to  the  Board 
that  he  himself  should  take  a  trip  around  the  world, 
visiting  all  stations  connected  with  their  work. 
And,  as  the  condition  of  his  eyes  rendered  him  help- 


64  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

less  for  writing  or  reading,  he  proposed  to  take  his 
wife.  This  was  suggesting  so  radical  an  innovation 
in  the  routine  work  of  a  secretary,  that  it  naturally 
met  with  some  opposition  from  the  more  conserva- 
tive, but  it  was  finally  decided  to  send  him.  In 
order  not  to  draw  heavily  upon  the  treasury,  he 
raised  a  large  part  of  the  funds  for  his  expenses 
from  outside  sources.  And  it  may  be  said  here  that 
this  tour  of  inspection  resulted  in  such  widespread 
benefit  to  missionary  work,  that  since  those  days 
some  five  or  six  secretaries  have,  at  different  times, 
gone  over  the  same  ground,  and  in  each  case  the 
Board  has  been  willing  to  meet  all  expenses. 

Just  before  starting  a  letter  was  received  from 
D.  Stuart  Dodge,  son  of  William  E.  Dodge,  begin- 
ning thus : — 

*'  New  York,  July  i^th,  1874. 
Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

No  conviction  was  stronger  in  my  mind  during 
my  journey  just  ended  than  the  absolute  necessity 
of  occasional  visits  to  the  foreign  stations  by  the 
men  who  are  attempting  to  direct  the  missions  of 
our  churches.  It  is  useless  for  them  to  expect  to 
obtain  a  full  and  exact  knowledge  of  even  the 
general  operations  of  the  Foreign  work  in  any  other 
way.  I  am  greatly  rejoiced  that  the  way  has  been 
opened  for  you  to  take  this  trip,  even  (I  was  al- 
most tempted  to  say)  if  sickness  had  to  be  the  key 
to  remove  the  obstacles.  .  .  .  Do  take  uncom- 
mon care  of  your  mortal   framework,   and   cram 


JOURNEY  AROUND  THE  WORLD     65 

every  niche  of  your  head  with  bristling  facts,  and 
the  dear  Master  watch  over  and  keep  you  at  every 
step. 

Ever  affectionately  yours, 

D.  Stuart  Dodge." 


Some  hesitation  had  at  first  been  felt  about  taking 
a  lady  on  such  a  trip.  This  was  just  before  the 
day  of  the  feminine  globe-trotter,  and  unavoidable 
hardships  were  anticipated  in  journeying  through 
Oriental  lands.  But  the  young  wife  of  the  Secre- 
tary possessed  qualities  which  go  to  make  up  a 
good  traveller,  fortitude,  patience,  and  physical 
endurance;  moreover,  she  had  what  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson  calls  "that  belle  hiimeur  and  spirit  of 
adventure  which  makes  a  pleasure  out  of  what  is 
unpleasant,"  and  she  was  keenly  eager  to  accompany 
her  husband.  The  disposal  of  the  five  children  dur- 
ing their  year's  absence,  and  the  desperate  pangs 
of  parting  with  them,  were  all  that  dismayed  her. 
This  final  parting  took  place  at  Rochester  in  late 
July. 

At  Omaha,  where  a  few  days  were  spent  with 
friends,  they  found  a  city  not  six  years  old,  the 
streets  unpaved,  but  with  a  population  of  over 
twenty  thousand.  Later,  when  nearing  Salt  Lake 
City,  a  rather  interesting  acquaintance  was  made 
with  a  young  and  pretty  woman,  wife  No.  19 
of  Brigham  Young.  She  had  left  him,  how- 
ever; had  been  lecturing  against  polygamy  in  the 


66  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

East,  and  was  now  about  to  carry  her  campaign 
into  the  very  stronghold  of  Mormonism.  At  Ogden, 
where  cars  were  changed  for  Salt  Lake  City,  she 
was  met  by  a  large  delegation  of  prominent  Gen- 
tiles from  the  latter  city,  headed  by  the  mayor,  and 
escorted  to  her  hotel.  There,  after  supper,  she  was 
serenaded,  and  a  speech  from  her  was  called  for; 
and  that  night  a  reception  in  her  honour  was 
held  at  the  hotel,  to  which  she  invited  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Ellinwood,  and  which  they  accordingly 
attended. 

One  other  feature  of  the  overland  trip  was  a  ride 
on  the  cow-catcher  through  Weber  Canon.  An 
enthusiastic  companion  had,  by  a  bribe  of  cigars, 
won  the  engineer's  consent,  and  huddled  together 
upon  this  small  space,  the  three  Travellers,  with 
bated  breath,  felt  themselves  propelled  for  twenty 
miles  through  the  most  marvellous  scenery. 

The  voyage  across  the  Pacific  consumed  twenty- 
three  days,  and  was  one  of  the  last  made  on  the 
old  side-wheel  steamers.  A  letter  dated  "  August 
13th,  Steamer  Alaska,"  says: — 

"  Neither  my  wife  nor  myself  are  seasick.  She 
is  a  capital  sailor,  and  is  the  only  lady  on  board 
who  has  been  able  to  appear  at  table  at  every  meal. 
I  should  have  been  well-nigh  helpless  without  her, 
and  am  a  thousand  times  glad  that  I  brought  her." 

At  Yokohama  a  landing  was  made  in  the  edge 
of  a  typhoon  and  passengers  were  conveyed  to  land 


JOURNEY  AROUND  THE  WORLD      67 

in  small  boats  rowed  by  half-naked  Japanese. 
Women  were  first  passed  over  the  ship's  side,  and 
it  was  a  terrifying  experience  for  Mrs.  EUinwood 
when  she  stood  balanced  between  husband  and  Cap- 
tain, watching  the  tiny  skiffs  as  they  bobbed  on 
the  angry  ocean.  "  When  that  boat  beneath  us 
next  rides  on  that  wave,  be  ready,"  said  the  cap- 
tain, "  and  jump  when  I  tell  you."  .... 
"  Jump !  "  And  closing  her  eyes,  she  sprang  into 
space. 

From  Yokohama  to  Tokyo  ran  the  only  rail- 
road which  Japan  at  that  time  could  boast;  and  a 
novel  feature  of  its  train  service  consisted  in  the 
odd  little  short  cars.  It  was  in  that  city  that  they 
saw,  publicly  posted  on  a  bridge,  an  edict  threaten- 
ing "  death  to  all  believers  in  the  Christian  faith." 
Now  the  protected  Christians  of  Japan  number  tens 
of  thousands.  Two  other  stops  were  made,  at 
Kobi  and  at  Nagasaki,  before  the  travellers  sailed 
away,  charmed  with  the  little  Island  Empire  and 
its  people. 

On  reaching  China  they  went  direct  from  Shang- 
hai to  Chefoo  where  Dr.  John  Nevius  and  his  wife 
were  stationed.  Here  they  made  one  of  the  pleas- 
antest  visits  of  their  trip,  forming  for  their  genial 
hosts  a  lifelong  friendship.  And  here  Mrs.  Ellin- 
wood  remained  while  her  husband  proceeded  to 
Peking.  "  We  won't  make  the  inland  journey  too 
easy,"  said  Dr.  Nevius,  "  we'll  show  you  how  the 
missionaries  have  to  travel ! "     But  the  Secretary 


68  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

was  still  far  from  strong,  and  this  decision  to  make 
him  rough  it  proved  disastrous.  A  large  part  of 
the  way  lay  over  indescribably  bad  roads,  travelled 
in  ox  carts,  and  he  reached  Peking  in  a  state  of  col- 
lapse. Dr.  Martin,  president  of  the  Imperial  Col- 
lege, was  his  host,  and  the  visit  would  have  been 
delightful  had  he  not  been  obliged  to  spend  most 
of  it  in  bed.  When,  after  a  stay  of  two  weeks,  he 
started  on  the  return  trip,  he  travelled  in  style, 
being  carried  to  the  Peiho  River  in  Dr.  Martin's 
private  chair,  with  carriers  in  uniform.  That  the 
effects  of  this  ox-cart  experience  were  still  visible 
when  the  travellers  reached  Canton  is  evidenced 
by  a  letter  received  by  him  from  Dr.  Henry  Noyes, 
dated,  "  Canton,  June  23rd,  1903,"  in  which  he 
says : — 

"  I  remember  when  you  were  here  in  1874  I 
said  to  Mr.  Preston,  '  I  greatly  fear  that  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  will  not  live  to  reach  home.'  He  encour- 
aged me  by  saying  that  he  had  known  you  in  the 
Seminary  and  that  you  were  subject  at  times  to 
bodily  weakness.  What  an  amount  of  work  has 
been  accomplished  between  that  time  and  this!  I 
have  wondered  at  it !  " 

In  January  the  Secretary  and  his  wife  reached 
India,  and  passages  from  a  letter  written  by  him 
at  Agra,  to  his  young  daughter  Laura,  give  their 
impressions  of  that  country : — 

"  I  would  be  glad  to  tell  you  of  even  a  hundredth 


JOURNEY  AROUND  THE  WORLD  69 

part  of  our  strange  adventures  since  we  landed  in 
India,  but  the  throng  of  experiences  which  crowd 
even  a  single  week  is  such  that  I  know  not  where 
to  begin.  We  had  yesterday  a  rare  treat  in  a  visit 
to  the  renowned  Taj  Mahal,  the  tomb  built  by 
Shah  Jehan,  one  of  the  old  Mogul  Sovereigns  of 
India,  in  honour  of  his  favourite  wife."  (Here  fol- 
lows a  description  of  the  wondrous  tomb,  nowadays 
so  much  more  familiar  to  the  tourist.) 

"  To-day  we  have  been  spending  at  a  large  Or- 
phanage near  Agra.  It  furnishes  a  home  for  nearly 
four  hundred  native  children.  We  have  enjoyed 
the  day  very  much,  as  the  guests  of  some  earnest 
German  missionaries.  We  have  seen  here  a  great 
curiosity.  Two  or  three  years  ago  there  was  an 
account  in  the  papers  of  some  children  who  had 
been  found  living  with  the  wolves,  and  had  been 
placed  in  an  Orphanage.  This  is  the  place.  One 
of  them  was  so  very  wild  that  he  could  not  be 
tamed,  and  he  died  last  year.  The  other  one  we 
have  seen  to-day.  He  was  brought  here  when  about 
seven  years  old,  and  for  some  time  continued  to 
walk  like  a  wolf  on  all  fours;  and  would  snap  and 
bark  like  a  wolf.  He  would  eat  at  first  only  raw 
meat  and  ate  it  as  an  animal  would.  His  clothing 
he  tore  in  shreds.  He  is  now  about  fifteen  years 
old,  and  is  a  very  strange  specimen  of  an  idiot.  He 
still  tears  his  clothing,  but  not  as  badly  as  formerly. 
While  we  looked  at  him,  he  grinned  strangely  and 
showed  his  teeth,  though  he  did  not  appear  at  all 
in  a  savage  mood.  I  noticed  that  mamma  seemed 
quite  excited  while  looking  at  so  remarkable  an 


70  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

object  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  In  the 
'  History  of  Ancient  Rome  '  you  have  read  that 
the  twin  brothers  Romulus  and  Remus  were  nour- 
ished in  their  infancy  by  wolves,  and  of  course  I 
always  looked  upon  it  as  a  piece  of  mythologic  hum- 
bug, not  dreaming  that  I  should  ever  witness  an 
actual  specimen  of  that  very  thing.  The  general 
supposition  is  that  these  children  were  carried  off 
in  their  early  infancy  by  the  wolves,  and  that  moth- 
erly wolves,  in  a  strange  freak  of  instinct,  took  a 
fancy  to  protect  and  feed  them.  What  is  remark- 
able is  that  the  circumstance  has  occurred  more 
than  once,  as  this  boy  was  found  eight  years  ago, 
while  the  second  one  was  found  six  years  after 
in  an  entirely  different  place. 

Within  the  last  ten  days  we  have  crossed  the 
Sewalic  Mountains  to  the  beautiful  valley  of 
Dehra,  in  which  we  spent  a  day  or  two  at  the  Dehra 
Girls'  School;  visited  a  plantation  of  six  hundred 
acres  of  tea,  nestled  among  the  haunts  of  the  wild 
tiger  and  leopard;  and  rode  home  at  night  on  an 
elephant.  The  next  day  we  climbed  the  sides  of 
the  Himalayas  to  Woodstock  and  Lai  Tibba,  where 
from  a  hilltop  we  saw  a  panorama  of  the  snow-cov- 
ered Himalayas  such  as  I  never  expect  to  see 
equalled.  They  were  about  eighty  miles  distant 
from  us,  and  presented  for  two  or  three  hundred 
miles  from  right  to  left,  a  wall  of  gleaming  sum- 
mits, ranging  from  20,000  to  24,000  feet  in  height. 

On  leaving  Lahore  we  came  down  to  Delhi,  which 
is,  I  think,  the  most  interesting  city  that  I  have 
ever  visited.     It  is  the  capital  of  the  old  Moslem 


x 


JOURNEY  AROUND  THE  WORLD     71 

power,  and  presents  one  constant  succession  of 
magnificent  ruins,  if,  indeed,  these  can  be  called 
ruins  which  are  so  wonderfully  preserved."    .    .    . 

(And  he  concludes)  :  "  Nowhere  but  in  the  Ara- 
bian Nights'  tales  does  one  get  any  conception  of 
such  marvels  as  are  here  presented;  but  I  cannot  de- 
scribe them.  I  only  hope  that  we  may  be  spared  to 
tell  you  by  word  of  mouth  some  of  the  wonders  of 
this  wonderful  land. 

On  the  nth  of  December  Uncle  E.  sent  us  a  tele- 
gram consisting  of  merely  the  two  precious  words 
— '  All  well.' — Notwithstanding  all  delays  at  in- 
termediate offices,  it  came  under  the  Atlantic, 
through  Europe,  across  the  Mediterranean,  along 
the  African  coast,  down  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  Indian 
Ocean,  and  half  across  India  to  Allahabad  in  five 
hours.  So  the  oceans  and  the  continents  were 
levied  upon  to  let  us  know  that  our  dear  ones  at 
home  were  well !  " 

The  tour  was  extended  from  India  to  Egypt; 
from  there  to  Syria,  and  from  Syria  through  Italy 
to  France  and  England,  from  whence  they  turned 
their  faces  homeward.  Throughout  the  Orient  the 
novel  modes  of  travel  afforded  constant  entertain- 
ment. They  mounted  elephants  and  donkeys.  They 
drove  behind  oxen  and  mules,  in  two-wheeled,  three- 
wheeled,  and  four-wheeled  vehicles,  whose  motion 
sometimes  rivalled  a  Swedish  movement  treatment. 
They  were  pulled  by  men,  they  were  carried  by 
them.     But  camel  riding  they  left  for  those  who 


72  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

had  not  been,  as  Dr.  Ellinwood  once  was,  thrown 
over  the  head  of  a  camel. 

The  Secretary's  return  was  so  timed  that  he 
might  attend  the  General  Assembly  in  May,  and 
there — filled  with  enthusiasm  and  "  bristling  with 
facts  " — he  made  such  stirring  appeals  that  it  was 
said  by  more  than  one,  and  among  them  William 
E.  Dodge,  that  "  he  seemed  to  be  inspired."  From 
that  time  on  for  many  years  he  was  constantly  an- 
swering calls  in  the  Northern  and  Western  States, 
to  make  missionary  addresses. 


VII— 1877-1887 

PUBLISHES    FIRST    BOOK — VISIT    TO     MEXICO — CON- 
NECTION WITH  CLIFTON  SPRINGS  SANITARIUM — 

LEAVES   ORANGE  AND   SETTLES   IN    NEW   YORK 

PROFESSOR  OF  COMPARATIVE  RELIGIONS 

THE  trip  around  the  world  not  only  furnished 
matter  and  inspiration  for  addresses,   but 
also  supplied  part  of  the  material  for  Dr. 
Ellinwood's  first  book  on  Missions,  entitled  "  The 
Great  Conquest,"  which  was  published  in  1877;  and 
of  which  Winthrop  S.  Oilman  wrote : 

"  Beginning  as  it  should  with  the  prophetic  basis, 
and  the  logic  of  the  Gospel,  it  conveys  a  great  mass 
of  apt  and  valuable  instruction  on  the  subject.  It 
is  very  interesting,  and  just  such  a  compendium 
as  should  circulate  largely  in  the  churches." 

And  among  minor  fruits  of  the  trip  was  the 
following  little  note: — 

"March  15,  1877. 
Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood: — 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  your  most  excellent  Report  on 
Mr.  Stuart's  article  on  Japan.  It  is  a  comfort 
to  find  a  man  who  knows  what  he  is  talking  about, 
and  gives  no  uncertain  sound  when  he  speaks.   May 

73 


74  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

I  beg  the  privilege  of  sending  you  the  current  num- 
ber of  Scribner,  beginning  with  the  volume  in  No- 
vember? I  have  entered  your  name  on  the  compli- 
mentary list. 

Yours  truly, 

RoswELL  Smith." 

During  these  years  the  Secretary  had  been 
brought  into  correspondence  with  Mrs.  James  Lori- 
mer  Graham,  the  first  President  of  the  New  York 
Branch  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Board.  And  she  and  her  large-hearted  husband 
were  among  his  most  interesting  New  York  friends. 
Concerning  them  a  few  words  of  digression 
may  perhaps  be  pardoned.  The  Wheel  of  Time 
wrought  dramatic  extremes  in  their  career,  but  at 
this  period  their  beautiful  and  spacious  home  on 
North  Washington  Square  was  a  delightful  social 
and  literary  centre.  In  Mrs.  Bayard  Taylor's  book 
entitled,  "  On  Two  Continents,"  she  says,  "  James 
Lorimer  Graham  and  his  wife,  Josephine,  were 
numbered  among  our  most  intimate  New  York 
friends.  Each  Sunday  evening  we  saw  a  small 
select  circle  in  our  rooms :  the  Stoddards,  the  Sted- 
mans,  the  Grahams,  T.  B.  Aldrich,  and  others."  At 
a  later  date  the  Grahams  occupied  a  palace  in  Flor- 
ence where  literary  friends  sought  them  out — 
Emerson,  the  Taylors,  and  Ouida.  But  the  reli- 
gious faith  of  this  interesting  couple  was  sorely 
tested  in  old  age.  The  husband  suffered  a  sun- 
stroke, his  mental  powers  and  business  grasp  failed, 


VISIT  TO  MEXICO  75 

and  his  large  fortune  melted  away.  The  last  time 
my  father  went  to  see  them,  he  found  them  ex- 
tremely poor,  but  bearing  all  with  Christian  forti- 
tude and  resignation. 

In  the  years  1880  and  1881  two  honours  came 
within  the  Secretary's  reach.  He  was  urged  to 
accept,  in  the  first  instance,  the  Presidency  of  Ham- 
ilton College,  his  old  Alma  Mater,  and  the  follow- 
ing year  was  asked  to  consider  the  Chancellorship 
of  the  Pittsburgh  University.  But  it  now  seems 
clear  that  it  was  God's  purpose  to  keep  him  where 
he  was,  and  though  from  a  worldly  standpoint 
these  titles  would  have  conferred  a  higher  distinc- 
tion than  that  of  Secretary  of  Foreign  Missions, 
still  he  was  content  to  forego  this,  in  order  to 
devote  thirty- four  years  to  the  cause  of  World 
Evangelization. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  Dr.  Ellinwood 
made  a  delightful  visit  to  Mexico  accompanied  by 
the  treasurer  of  the  Board,  Mr.  Rankin.  They 
went  to  investigate  and  adjust  some  difficulty  which 
had  arisen  in  the  Mexican  Mission  field;  and  dur- 
ing a  stay  of  six  weeks  or  more  he  became 
deeply  interested  in  the  history  of  Maximilian  and 
Carlotta.  Their  brief  reign  and  tragic  fate  so  ap- 
pealed to  his  heart  and  imagination,  that  he  wrote 
a  lecture  on  the  subject  which  he  later  delivered 
before  the  New  England  Society  of  Orange.  This 
was  a  literary  society  of  some  local  importance,  and 
the  following  year  he  was  elected  its  president. 


76  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

On  December  28,  1881,  when  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  CHfton  Springs  Sanitarium  was 
organized,  he  was  invited  to  be  present,  and  became 
one  of  the  original  members  of  that  body.  His 
interest  in  this  famous  Bethesda  dated  from  1851, 
when,  as  a  theological  student,  he  first  visited  the 
springs,  and  found  a  small  ''  water  cure,"  only  one 
year  old. 

His  admiration  for  its  founder.  Dr.  Henry 
Foster,  only  increased  with  time,  and  when  many 
years  later  (January,  1901)  that  noble  friend  and 
benefactor  of  humanity,  died,  he  wrote  to  a 
daughter : 

"  I  suppose  that  you  have  been  told  how  he  died 
on  Tuesday  morning,  or  rather  was  translated  '  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye.'  His  was  the  saintliest 
personality  I  have  ever  known." 

As  Dr.  Ellinwood's  connection  with  the  Sani- 
tarium covered  many  years,  and  it  seems  wiser  to 
present  everything  regarding  it  at  once,  it  may  be 
said  here  that  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  in  July,  1894,  and  continued  to  serve 
for  ten  years,  till  the  infirmities  of  age  compelled 
him  to  resign.  Among  the  trustees  at  that  time 
he  found  particularly  interesting  the  personality 
of  Bishop  McCabe,  a  man  whose  wonderful  mag- 
netism and  gift  of  song  had  made  him,  during  the 
Civil  War,  the  most  popular  chaplain  in  the  Union 
Army;  and  who,   in    1887,   as   Secretary   for  the 


N, 


CLIFTON  SPRINGS  SANITARIUM     ^y 

Methodist  Board,  spurred  his  church  on  to  raise 
in  one  year  a  "  MilHon  for  Missions."  Though 
Dr.  ElHnwood  lacked  his  magnetism,  in  many  other 
respects  the  men  were  alike.  There  were  the  same 
force,  fire,  and  enthusiasm;  the  same  evangelistic 
spirit  and  genius  for  initiative;  and  both  were 
ardent  and  successful  beggars  for  the  Great  Cause. 
In  1894  Bishop  McCabe  wrote: — "All  hail!  You 
are  our  Major-General !  As  such  I  salute  you !  " 
These  words  would  equally  well  have  described  his 
own  position  in  the  Methodist  ranks. 

When,  on  July  10,  1896,  the  beautiful  new 
Sanitarium  building  and  chapel  were  dedicated,  Dr. 
Ellinwood  in  presiding  said : — 

"  I  want  to  state  my  conviction  that  aside  from 
the  incalculable  value  of  this  institution  in  giving 
health  to  hundreds  and  thousands,  and  even  to  tens 
of  thousands — for  I  believe  that  at  least  seventy  or 
eighty  thousand  have  been  here — there  has  gone 
from  this  institution  the  most  positive  spiritual 
influence  that  has  gone  from  any  institution  within 
my  knowledge." 

In  reply  to  his  letter  of  resignation  Mrs.  Foster 
wrote: — 

"  We  grieve  that  the  time  has  come  when  the 
tried  and  trusted  friend  of  Dr.  Foster  and  the  Sani- 
tarium, and  the  honoured  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees,  finds  it  necessary  to  sever  the  connec- 
tion which  has  so  long  bound  us  together.     Your 


78  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

presence  has  ever  been  a  blessing  and  your  wise 
and  helpful  counsels  a  comfort  and  certain  reli- 
ance." 


But  to  return  to  the  year  1885.  During  that 
spring  the  pleasant  home  life  in  Orange  came  to 
an  end.  One  of  several  reasons  contributing 
toward  this  break-up  was  the  fact  that  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  was  beginning  to  feel  the  strain  of  suburban 
life,  with  its  incessant  journeyings  to  and  fro,  by 
train  and  ferry.  Accordingly  in  the  autumn,  after 
the  usual  season  in  the  Adirondacks,  the  family 
settled  in  New  York,  wfeere  they  continued  to  live 
for  twenty  years. 

Twice  during  the  two  following  years  were  ef- 
forts made  to  induce  him  to  consider  Theological 
professorships,  but  his  decision  was  always  the 
same.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  wrote  a  let- 
ter which  contained  a  prophecy  speedily  fulfilled. 
It  bears  date  of  August  i,  1887,  and  says: — 

"  Yesterday,  in  Dr.  Cuyler's  church  in  Brooklyn, 
I  heard  a  young  man  present  two  very  interesting 
sermons;  and  altogether  he  struck  me  as  a  man  of 
great  promise.  It  was  Rev.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock 
of  Lockport,  N.  Y.  I  should  say  that  he  was  per- 
haps, thirty-two  years  of  age." 

Some  thirteen  years  later  when  Dr.  Babcock  was 
enjoying  an  almost  unprecedented  popularity  and 


PROFESSORSHIP  79 

affection  as  pastor  of  the  Brick  Presbyterian 
Cliurch,  New  York,  the  writer  heard  him  dehver  a 
sermon  on  Foreign  Missions  in  which  he  referred 
to  "  Dr.  ElHnwood,  that  noble  Christian  statesman, 
diplomatist,  and  philosopher,  God  bless  him  and 
spare  him  I  " 

It  was  in  this  year  that  the  Secretary  accepted 
the  Professorship  of  Comparative  Religions  in  the 
Graduate  Department  of  the  New  York  University. 
He  was  the  first  man  to  fill  this  chair,  and  though 
sixty-one  years  old  at  the  time,  he  entered  upon 
the  preparation  of  these  lectures  with  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  youth,  working  every  night  till  late 
bedtime.  He  always  insisted  that  for  him  "  the 
best  recreation  lay  in  change  of  work,"  and  never 
liked  to  admit  that  relaxation  formed  any  part  of 
recreation.  As  this  subject  is  more  fully  dealt  with 
in  Mr.  Speer's  chapter,  we  give  in  this  connection 
only  one  testimonial,  that  from  Dr.  John  Bancroft 
Devins,  editor  of  the  New  York  Observer: — 

"  Dr.  Ellinwood's  lectures  upon  *  Religions  of  the 
Orient '  were  masterful.  Having  had  the  privilege 
of  taking  the  course  under  him,  it  is  a  great  pleasure 
to  testify  to  their  worth.  He  did  not  minimize  the 
virtues  of  the  non-Christian  religions;  no  advocate 
of  Brahmanism,  or  Buddhism  could  have  brought 
out  more  forcefully  the  strong  points  of  this  cult; 
but  when  they  were  compared  with  the  virtues  and 
beauties  of  Christianity  the  superiority  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  was  made  manifest." 


8o  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

A  year  after  the  course  was  opened,  Elliott  F. 
Shepard  wrote : — 

"  It  seems  to  me  a  great  pity  that  your  lectures 
should  be  to  so  limited  an  audience.  I  would  like 
to  see  it  a  hundredfold  larger.  Is  there  no  way  to 
enlarge  the  usefulness  of  your  efforts  in  the  remain- 
ing lectures?  I  only  wish  it  had  been  possible  for 
me  to  hear  every  one  of  them;  and  if  you  will 
allow  me,  and  will  send  me  word  in  advance,  I  will 
endeavour  to  attend  the  examinations." 


VIII— 1887-1890 

WORLD  CONFERENCE  ON  MISSIONS — APPEAL  TO  KING 
LEOPOLD VISIT  TO  SCOTLAND LETTERS 

IN   1888  occurred  the  Ecumenical  Missionary 
Conference  in  London.     For  the  success  of 
these  great  meetings  the  Secretary  had  been 
labouring  for  many  months;  and  in  May  he  sailed 
for  England  to  attend  it,  accompanied  by  his  wife.* 
He  afterwards  wrote : — 

"  About  fifty  sessions  were  held  in  that  renowned 
structure  known  as  Exeter  Hall,  the  historic  centre 
of  more  numerous  and  varied  movements  for  reli- 
gion and  humanity  than  any  other  edifice  of  modem 
times.  The  Earl  of  Aberdeen  was  its  honorary 
president,  and  presided  on  its  chief  occasions. 
Many  distinguished  men,  who,  as  civil  administra- 
tors, or  military  commanders  in  England's  Oriental 
possessions,  have  had  the  fullest  opportunities  fairly 
to  estimate  the  success  of  missions,  gave  to  the 
Conference  the  hearty  support  of  their  presence  and 
their  co-operation.  The  large  American  delegations 
were  received  into  the  homes  of  their  British  kins- 

*  In  the  Minutes  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  on  the 
death  of  Dr.  Ellinwood,  it  states  that  "he  may  be  said  to  have 
created  the  two  World  Conferences  of  missionary  societies, 
which  were  held  in  London,  and  New  York"  (the  latter  in 
1900). 

8x 


82  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

folk  with  the  most  cordial  hospitality,  and  the  two 
nations  were  more  closely  united  by  the  new  bonds 
of  a  common  impulse  for  the  advancement  of  the 
Redeemer's  kingdom." 

We  quote  also  from  a  letter  written  home,  during 
the  progress  of  the  sessions : — 

"  The  Conference  is  a  grand  success !  Five  hun- 
dred were  expected,  fifteen  hundred  have  come. 
It  is  a  great  thing  to  be  here.  All  parts  of  the 
world  are  represented,  and  it  is  sublime  to  see  such 
throngs  interested  day  after  day  in  missions,  and 
among  them  the  first  men  of  the  kingdom.  .  .  . 
We  are  staying  in  a  very  pleasant  home,  that  of 
an  old  India  civil  service  officer.  And  yesterday  we 
took  luncheon  at  a  large  hotel  dining  hall.  It 
was  given  by  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  in  behalf  of 
the  American  delegates  to  their  English  friends,  and 
was  magnificent,  four  hundred  being  at  table. 
From  there  we  went  by  train  to  DoUis  Hill,  the 
country  seat  of  the  Earl  and  Lady  Aberdeen, 
who  gave  a  garden  party  to  the  members  of  the 
Conference.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gladstone  are  their 
guests,  and  we  all  shook  hands  with  them.  We 
had  a  group  photograph  taken  on  the  lawn,  and 
they  made  me  sit,  modest  as  I  am,  among  the 
honoured  Americans.*    On  the  way  home  Mamma 

*  This  was  a  large  photograph  taken  in  a  semicircle,  the 
Earl  and  Lady  Aberdeen  with  their  four  children  reclining 
on  rugs  on  the  grass.  Behind  them  were  seated  the  principal 
delegates,  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Taylor  of  New  York  and  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  in  the  centre,  while  the  others  stood — a  dense  mass  of 
heads — filling  the  background.  This  photograph  was  loaned 
to  the  New  York  Conference  in  1900  and  was  lost. 


WORLD  MISSIONARY  CONFERENCE     83 

saw  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  wife  and  oldest 
son  just  starting  for  the  Royal  German  funeral. 
Everybody  here  is  deep  in  sorrow.  To-morrow  I 
expect  to  go  to  the  House  of  Commons  to  hear 
Gladstone  speak  on  the  death  of  the  Emperor." 

On  the  last  night  of  the  Conference  a  great  fare- 
well meeting  was  held,  and  an  hour  or  two  before 
it  opened  the  Earl  of  Aberdeen  came  to  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  and  asked  him  to  make  the  address  for  the 
Americans.  This  left  practically  no  time  for  prepa- 
ration; but  the  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion,  the 
splendid  success  of  the  Conference,  and  the  vast 
representative  audience  inspired  him  to  the  utmost 
of  his  powers.  Among  many  who  warmly  con- 
gratulated him  was  Lord  Aberdeen,  who  showed  his 
appreciation  by  cordially  inviting  him  and  his  wife 
to  pay  them  a  little  visit.  This,  however,  was  found 
to  be  impossible,  as  Dr.  Ellinwood  had  been  made 
chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Presby- 
terian Council  to  wait  upon  the  King  of  the  Bel- 
gians with  reference  to  the  liquor  traffic  in  the 
Congo;  and  before  starting  on  that  mission  had 
promised  to  make  a  flying  trip  to  Berlin,  where  two 
of  his  daughters,  Jean  and  Marjorie,  were  taking  a 
two-years'  course  in  music  and  German.  On  reach- 
ing Berlin,  matters  pertaining  to  the  Congo  liquor 
traffic  detained  him  two  or  three  days,  after  which 
his  daughters  accompanied  him  back  to  London, 
where  they  arrived  just  in  time  to  attend  a  breakfast 
given  to  their  father  by  Sir  John  and  Lady  Kenna- 


84  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

way.  Among  members  of  Parliament  and  several 
Bishops  present  on  this  occasion  was  Bishop  Crow- 
thers  of  Africa,  a  full-blooded  negro,  who  as  a  child 
had  been  on  a  slave  ship  bound  for  America  when  it 
was  intercepted  by  a  British  vessel.  The  University 
of  Oxford  had  conferred  on  this  man  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  divinity,  entitling  him  to  wear  upon 
occasion  a  scarlet  hood,  which,  taken  in  combination 
with  his  ebony  skin,  proved  highly  effective. 

On  the  1 6th  of  July  the  committee  of  nine  men 
appointed  to  wait  on  King  Leopold,  met  in  Brussels, 
where  the  following  telegram  awaited  them : — 

"  Ellinwood — Hotel  Empereur,  Rue  Nueve — 
His  Majesty  will  receive  you  at  Ostend  to-day 
at  half -past  four. 

Von  Estrelde." 

The  committee  accordingly  repaired  to  the  sum- 
mer place  at  Ostend,  where  they  were  presented  to 
the  King  by  Baron  Prisse.  The  chairman  then 
made  a  brief  address.  King  Leopold  at  that  time 
was  enjoying  more  of  the  respect  of  Christian 
nations  than  was  later  accorded  him.  Moreover, 
before  the  audience,  the  committee  had  been  inter- 
viewed by  his  Administrateur  d'Affaires  de  Congo, 
who  represented  (or  misrepresented)  the  case  in 
such  a  light  as  to  "  measurably  affect  the  character 
of  the  interview,"  so  says  the  report.  The  address, 
therefore,  was  not  in  the  nature  of  a  protest;  but 


APPEAL  TO  KING  LEOPOLD  85 

stated,  after  its  opening  formalities,  that  "  their 
council  represented  nearly  twenty  millions  of  Chris- 
tian people  in  Europe,  the  United  States,  Australia, 
and  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  who  were  carrying 
on  missions  in  Africa  and  other  unenlightened 
lands,"  and  it  ended  by  earnestly  begging  the  co-op- 
eration of  his  Majesty  in  efforts  to  suppress  the 
liquor  traffic  in  the  Congo  Free  States. 

The  report  says  that  "  the  King  listened  atten- 
tively and  courteously,  and  replied  in  good  English, 
making  towards  the  close  of  his  remarks,  a  promise 
which  is  truly  edifying  in  the  light  of  present-day 
revelations,  namely,  "  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  avert 
evil  from  the  native  tribes  of  the  great  Congo 
basin."  "  At  the  close  of  his  reply,"  continues  the 
report,  "  His  Majesty  led  on  to  some  general  con- 
versation, then  thanked  the  delegation  for  their  visit, 
and  shook  each  cordially  by  the  hand  as  they  re- 
tired." 

Fortunately,  the  humane  policy  of  King  Leo- 
pold's successor  now  promises  real  hope  for  the 
Congo. 

Before  leaving  England  for  the  Continent  a  letter 
had  been  received  from  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh, 
asking  Dr.  Ellinwood  to  come  up  to  Scotland  and 
make  an  address.  This  invitation  included  his  wife 
and  daughters,  and  promised  that  if  they  would  pay 
a  week's  visit  to  himself  and  Lady  Balfour,  he 
would  take  them  on  a  trip  through  the  Trossachs. 
The  acceptance  of  this  hospitality  gave  them  four 


86  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

most  delightful  days,  including  on  their  journey 
to  Edinburgh  visits  to  the  Cathedrals  of  York  and 
Durham.  From  a  letter  written  home  we  quote  the 
following : — 

"  I  have  to  speak  to-night  in  a  Union  Missionary 
meeting,  and  Lord  Balfour,  whose  guests  we  are, 
has  advertised  me  in  printed  handbills.  This  Bal- 
four family,  is  in  its  real  name  the  Bruce  family, 
and  it  is  also  on  the  wife's  side,  a  scion  of  the 
Stuarts.  The  old  castle  of  Robert  Bruce  is  half 
a  mile  away,  or  at  least  one  high  tower  of  it,  in 
which  he  spent  the  night  before  the  battle  of  Ban- 
nockburn.  Bruce  conquered  the  small  tribes,  and 
founded  Scotland  as  a  nation.  I  have  just  had  a 
good  night's  sleep  in  a  bed  which  was  given  to  the 
family  by  Queen  Mary  of  Scotland.  Lord  Balfour 
is  a  special  favourite  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  when 
in  attendance  at  the  House  of  Lords  spends  much 
time  at  Windsor.  Yesterday  our  host  took  us 
on  an  all  day's  tour  through  the  Trossachs  and  the 
lakes.  It  was  a  fine  day,  and  you  may  be  sure  it 
was  a  red-letter  day.  I  send  you  a  wild  rose  from 
the  Trossachs." 

It  is  an  interesting  coincidence  that  at  the  time 
of  the  present  writing  (June,  1910)  there  is  in 
progress  in  Edinburgh  the  third  great  World  Mis- 
sionary Conference,  with  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh, 
K.T.,  as  president;  and  Sir  John  Kennaway,  Bart., 
M.P.,  as  one  of  the  three  vice-presidents.    Twenty- 


LETTERS  87 

two  years  ago  some  fifteen  hundred  people  at- 
tended from  all  parts  of  the  world,  while  now 
from  America  alone,  six  hundred  delegates  are 
present. 

On  August  28th,  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell  wrote : — 

"  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

Welcome  home !  I  wish  I  were  in  New  York  to 
get  the  first  taste  of  your  experiences  as  you  un- 
bottle  them.  ...  I  want  to  thank  you  for  your 
letters  to  me  while  you  were  away.  I  don't  see 
how  you  found  time  to  write  them,  judging  from 
the  accounts  I  have  received  of  your  tremendous 
labours;  but  you  put  in  your  strokes  at  the  very 
centre  of  the  world.  Everybody  says  you  did 
two  men's  work,  and  did  it  better  than  the  two 
men." 

Some  five  years  later  when  this  beloved  friend 
and  colleague  died,  the  following  letter  was  re- 
ceivod : — 

*'  My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood  : 

The  thanks  of  us  all  are  due  to  you  for  the  mag- 
nificent eulogy  which  you  pronounced  upon  Dr. 
Mitchell  this  afternoon.  It  was  an  uplift  to  us  to 
listen  to  the  solid  truthfulness  of  your  utterances, 
inwardly  warmed  as  they  were  by  the  tenderness 
of  your  affection  for  him.  You  do  not  need  to 
have  this  said  to  you,  and  I  have  written  it  only 
because  it  was  difficult  for  me  to  leave  it  unwritten. 
I  wish  there  were  some  means  by  which  we  could 
learn  fully  to  appreciate,  and  to  pass  fully  under 


88  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

the  power  of  Christian  excellence  so  royal  as  was 
that  of  Dr.  Mitchell,  before  the  personality  in  which 
the  excellence  is  incarnated  moves  up  beyond  our 
reach. 

Yours  gratefully  and  sincerely, 

Chas.  H.  Parkhurst/' 


IX— 1 890- 1 897 

MISSIONARY    GUESTS — LECTURES    AT    ANDOVER    AND 
UNION      THEOLOGICAL      SEMINARY  —  PUBLISHES 

"  ORIENTAL    RELIGIONS    AND    CHRISTIANITY  " 

LETTERS DEGREE      OF      LL.D.      CONFERRED AD- 
DRESS    TO     LI     HUNG     CHANG REPLY     OF     THE 

VICEROY 

DATING  from  their  trip  around  the  world 
in  1874,  when  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Ellinwood 
were  the  guests  of  hospitable  missionaries 
in  China,  Japan,  India,  and  other  countries  of  the 
East,  they  were  in  turn,  for  many  years  thereafter, 
privileged  to  be  the  hosts  of  numerous  returned  mis- 
sionaries in  this  country.  These  noble  men  and 
women  represented  many  different  social  grades, 
ranging  from  the  most  highly  cultivated  people  to 
those  whose  chief  adornment  lay  perhaps  in  charac- 
ter— in  the  graces  of  a  consecrated  self-denying  life. 
Among  these  many  guests,  memory  recalls  an  at- 
tractive, bright-faced  little  lady.  Dr.  Chestnut,  who, 
during  the  Lien  Chou  massacre  a  few  years  later, 
bore  herself  with  such  conspicuous  bravery  as  to 
win  special  mention  in  the  later  reports,  and  who 
met  a  violent  death  at  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  mob. 
Others  are  recalled  who  had  just  escaped  from  the 

89 


90  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Boxer  uprising,  and  their  confinement  in  the  Peking 
Legation,  their  faces  still  bearing  eloquent  testi- 
mony to  their  sufferings.  But  among  them  all  one 
personality  stands  out  pre-eminently,  that  of  the 
Scotch  saint  and  hero,  Dr.  John  G.  Paton,  who 
was  sent  out  by  his  own  country  to  the  New  Heb- 
rides. A  man  small  in  stature,  but  a  giant  in  prow- 
ess and  moral  courage,  whose  life  for  years  on  the 
island  of  Tanna  was  one  long  miracle  of  hair- 
breadth escapes  from  death.  No  literature  of  ad- 
venture in  the  nineteenth  century  can  equal  his 
simple  record  of  the  manifold  ways  in  which  God 
intervened  between  him  and  the  heathen  hatred  of 
savages.  He  was,  in  1890,  a  white-haired  man, 
still  vigorous  and  erect,  unassuming  and  of  an 
engaging  simplicity,  who  brought  to  New  York  the 
unconventional  habits  of  his  island  life,  scorning 
such  luxuries  as  easy  chairs  and  late  dinners. 

In  June,  1890,  occurred  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Mohunk  Negro  Conference,  and  Dr.  Ellinwood  and 
his  wife  were  among  those  who  accepted  a  cordial 
invitation  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smiley  to  be  present. 
For  several  successive  years  thereafter  they 
attended  the  conferences,  always  finding  much  to 
enjoy  in  the  interest  of  the  meetings;  the  pictu- 
resque beauty  of  the  resort;  and  in  the  people  whom 
they  met — among  these  notably  General  Armstrong, 
whose  genial  magnetic  personality  and  pre-eminent 
services  for  the  Negro  and  Indian,  naturally  made 
him  a  prominent  feature  of  the  meetings. 


LECTURES  91 

The  years  of  '91  and  '92  were  especially  full, 
as,  in  addition  to  the  duties  of  Secretary  and  the 
lectures  on  Comparative  Religions,  he  accepted  a 
unanimous  appointment  as  Hyde  Lecturer  on  For- 
eign Missions  at  the  Andover  Theological  Seminary, 
and  also  delivered  a  course  on  the  Ely  foundation 
in  the  Theological  Seminary,  New  York.  Mean- 
while, he  was  busy  in  the  preparation  of  a  book 
entitled,  "  Oriental  Religions  and  Christianity." 
This  was  published  in  '92,  and  we  quote  a  few  lines 
from  a  long  and  appreciative  review  of  it  by  the 
Rev.  James  S.  Dennis : — 

"  This  volume,  as  might  be  expected  from  one 
so  eminently  fitted  for  the  task,  is  a  happy  combina- 
tion of  discriminating  scholarship  and  practical 
wisdom,  and  is  written  with  a  full  appreciation  of 
the  existing  need  for  an  evangelical  treatise  on  this 
theme  which  would  have  the  true  ring  of  loyalty 
to  the  Gospel,  and  yet  be  free  from  unguarded  and 
indiscriminate  denunciation  of  the  great  ethnic 
religions. 

The  book  is  timely  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  is  a  vigorous  and  sufficient  reply  to  all  false 
admiration  for  Eastern  religions,  and  is  full  of  phil- 
osophical instruction  and  apologetic  power,  and 
high  missionary  inspiration." 

In  September,  1891,  he  also  found  time  to  attend, 
at  Rochester,  the  dedication  of  the  beautiful  new 
auditorium   which   the   Central    Church   had   been 


92  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

building;  and  to  preach  the  dedicatory  sermon.    A 
Rochester  paper  thus  commented  on  it : — 

"  The  sermon  of  Dr.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  was  a  brilliant 
and  comprehensive  review  of  the  progress  of  a 
generation,  the  period  of  thirty-three  years  inter- 
vening between  the  dedication  of  the  Central 
Church  in  1858,  of  which  he  was  then  the  pastor, 
and  the  present  occasion.  He  touched  on  the  local 
history  of  the  city  and  the  church,  but  the  discourse 
was  mainly  a  splendid,  logical  and  powerful  argu- 
ment to  prove  the  speedy,  complete  and  world-wide 
triumph  of  the  Gospel." 

It  has  been  said  that  Dr.  Ellinwood's  sympathies 
were  broad  and  deep,  and  nothing  could  illustrate 
this  better  than  extracts  from  two  letters  belonging 
to  this  period,  the  first  from  Dr.  Herrick  Johnson : — 

"  Chicago,  Nov.  16,  1893. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

Now  that  I  am  getting  '  out  of  the  woods  '  I 
want  to  tell  you  how  grateful  have  been  your  words 
of  appreciation  and  affection.  Nothing  has  more 
deeply  touched  me  during  my  illness,  than  the  mes- 
sages that  have  come  into  my  sick-room  from  you. 
They  have  been  so  hearty  and  sympathetic.  I  did 
not  know  you  leaned  toward  me  with  so  dear  a 
regard.     /  like  to  know  it.     It  does  a  tired  worker 


'ts*^ 


Sfood  now  and  then  to  be  cheered.     And  I  wonder 


& 


if  we  are  quite  right  in  getting  so  absorbed  in  our 


LETTERS  93 

work,  that  we  fail  to  get  in  touch  with  each  other 
in  the  place  of  tenderness  and  tears.   .    .    .   God 
bless  you,  dear  old  heart.    Good-bye. 
With  warm  regard, 

Herrick  Johnson." 

The  second  letter  was  received  some  three  or 
four  years  later,  from  Dr.  Benjamin  Labaree,  a 
missionary  from  Persia,  who  at  that  time  was  visit- 
ing this  country  with  his  family.  His  daughter,  a 
lovely  Christian  girl  and  a  chronic  invalid,  was 
taken  to  the  Presbyterian  Hospital  for  an  operation, 
and  her  devoted  mother  accompanied  her.  There, 
within  a  few  days,  they  both  lay  dead,  the  mother 
from  pneumonia. 

"  My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

My  heart  prompts  me  to  come  in  to  New  York 
for  a  personal  interview,  that  I  might  express  in 
the  most  direct  and  the  warmest  manner  possible, 
something  of  the  affectionate  gratitude  I  feel  to- 
ward you  for  all  the  comfort  you  have  been  to 
me  and  my  children  in  these  days.  But  I  think  I 
will  wait  awhile  until  chastened  body  and  emotions 
are  more  rested.  I  wish,  however,  that  you  should 
know  how  very  soothing  your  words  in  public  and 
in  private,  in  formal  address,  in  prayer,  and  in 
print,  have  been  to  us.  We  are  very  grateful  to 
you,  and  I  am  convinced  that  the  Lord  has  simply 
made  you  His  special  servant  to  minister  to  us 
the  consolations  which  He  designed  for  us  at  this 
time  of  His  afflictive  providences. 


94  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

I  have  received  your  several  letters  with  their 
overflowing  expressions  of  sympathy,  and  their 
most  surprising  tokens  of  practical  fellowship  in  my 
sorrow,  from  yourself  and  others.  I  am  over- 
whelmed by  the  superabundance  of  these  gifts. 
They  considerably  exceed  my  needs,  and  some  of 
them  I  am  constrained  to  return,  among  them  your 
own.  What  you  have  done  for  me  and  mine  at  this 
time,  far  exceeds  in  value  to  us  any  of  the  pecuniary 
contributions  which  generous  friends  have  sent  us." 

In  1895  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York 
conferred  on  Dr.  Ellinwood  the  degree  of  LL.D., 
his  name  being  presented  by  the  venerable  Charles 
Butler,  president  of  the  university  council.  This 
eminent  lawyer,  for  sixty  years  connected  with  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  University, — the 
friend  of  Froude,  of  Carlyle  (who  called  him  "  the 
truest  gentleman  he  had  known  "),  and  of  Matthew 
Arnold, — who  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary;  had  for  many  years 
been  the  warm  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Ellinwood. 
When,  in  the  following  April,  a  daughter  of  the  lat- 
ter was  married,  Mr.  Butler  attended  the  ceremony, 
tall  and  erect,  though  at  the  age  of  ninety- four. 
The  following  year  he  died,  and  the  last  time  my 
father  called  to  see  him,  this  dear  old  friend  drew 
his  face  down,  and  kissed  him  good-bye. 

It  was  in  June  of  this  year  that  the  Secretary 
completed  his  quarter  of  a  century  in  the  service 
of  the  Foreign  Mission  Board;  and  on  the  20th 


ADDRESS  TO  LI  HUNG  CHANG       95 

of  the  same  iiionth  attained  to  his  seventieth  birth- 
day. To  quote  from  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field,  in  the 
New  York  Evangelist: — 

"  Such  a  coincidence  could  not,  of  course,  be  kept 
a  secret.  The  Board  heard  of  it,  and  at  the  annual 
meeting,  the  venerable  president.  Dr.  John  D.  Wells, 
read  suitable  resolutions;  and  he  and  other  members 
of  the  Board  spoke  in  cordial  terms  of  the  long  and 
faithful  service  that  had  been  rendered.  The  pro- 
ceeding was  of  the  nature  of  a  surprise  to  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood,  as  was  that  of  the  following  day,  when  a 
procession  was  formed  which  brought  up  at  his 
desk,  the  leader,  Dr.  Arthur  J,  Brown,  bearing  a 
serviceable  present  in  the  shape  of  a  leather  satchel, 
which  was  presented  and  received  with  fitting 
words." 

In  the  late  summer  of  this  year  there  came  to  our 
shores  a  picturesque  and  most  illustrious  guest  in 
the  person  of  Li  Hung  Chang,  special  Ambassador 
of  His  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  China.  He  was 
the  foremost  man  in  that  great  Empire;  had  been 
variously  styled  the  Bismarck  or  the  Gladstone  of 
China,  and  was  acknowledged  the  world  over  as  the 
greatest  Oriental  of  the  age.  In  recognition  of 
his  well  known  friendliness  toward  foreign  mis- 
sionaries in  his  own  country,  it  seemed  fitting  that 
the  different  American  Missionary  Boards  and 
Societies  should  unite  in  extending  to  him  a  greet- 
ing and  welcome;  and  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  appointed 


96  FRx\NK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

to  prepare  and  deliver  the  address  on  this  occasion. 
The  denominations  represented  were  the  Presby- 
terian, the  Protestant  Episcopal,  the  Methodist  and 
Baptist.  Congregational  and  Reformed.  And 
through  the  courtesy  of  the  Hon.  John  W.  Foster, 
ex-Secretary  of  State,  and  counsel  for  the  Chinese 
Government  in  the  peace  treaty  vi^ith  Japan,  an 
interview  was  arranged  for  nine  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  September  i,  at  the  Hotel  Waldorf. 
Among  those  present  were:  Hon.  Darwin  R. 
James,  Dr.  Donald  Sage  Mackay,  Bishop  Andrews, 
and  Colonel  John  J.  McCook. 

When  the  venerable  Viceroy  entered  the  room, 
accompanied  by  his  interpreter  and  Mr.  Foster,  the 
delegation  at  once  rose  in  greeting.  With  a  slight 
bow  the  Viceroy  seated  himself  while  his  interpreter 
said : — 

"  He  is  very  weak  in  his  constitution,  if  you  will 
allow  him  to  take  his  seat." 

Mr.  Foster  then  introduced  the  chairman,  Dr. 
Ellinwood,  who  read  the  following  address,  a  copy 
of  which  had  been  given  the  Viceroy  before  the 
interview : — 

"  To  His  Excellency,  Li  Hung  Chang,  Grand  Secre- 
tary,    and     Special     Ambassador    of     his 
Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  China: 
Among  the  thousands  of  our  countrymen  who 

are  seeking  opportunity  to  do  honour  to  you  and 


be 


H 


W 


ADDRESS  TO  LI  HUNG  CHANG       97 

your  August  Sovereign,  we,  the  representatives  of 
various  Boards  and  Societies  engaged  in  Christian 
Missions  in  China,  beg  leave  to  present  to  you  our 
most  hearty  greetings,  and  to  assure  you  of  the 
profound  respect  which  we  cherish  toward  that 
great  and  ilhistrious  Empire  which  you  so  worthily 
represent.  For  the  last  fifty  years  the  missionaries  of 
these  Boards  have  been  favoured  with  the  protection 
of  your  Government,  and  we  are  frank  to  say  that 
in  no  nation  of  the  world  have  American  mission- 
aries received  more  just  and  even  generous  treat- 
ment than  that  accorded  to  our  missionaries  by  the 
Imperial  Government  of  China. 

It  is  remarkable  how  very  few  of  our  mission- 
aries, out  of  the  many  hundreds  who  have  lived  in 
China,  have  lost  their  lives  through  violence,  and 
we  recall  no  instance  in  which  such  casualties  have 
occurred  with  the  sanction  or  even  connivance  of 
your  Government.  On  the  contrary,  there  have 
been  many  instances  in  which  local  officials  who  have 
been  remiss  in  affording  proper  protection,  have 
suffered  punishment  for  their  neglect.  We  take 
special  pleasure  in  paying  this  tribute  to  the  justice 
and  humanity  shown  by  that  August  Power  which 
you  have  the  honour  to  represent. 

We  remember  with  lively  gratitude  the  various 
edicts  and  proclamations  which  have  been  issued 
by  the  Imperial  Government  direct,  or  by  subordi- 
nate officials,  not  only  enjoining  protection  to  our 
missionaries,  but  assuring  the  people  of  their  peace- 
able intentions  and  the  disinterested  character  of 
their  work.     A  very  remarkable  edict  of  this  kind 


98  FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

was  issued  in  the  year  1891  in  the  name  of  his 
Majesty,  the  Emperor. 

We  recall  many  kindly  expressions  uttered  by 
yourself  and  others  of  the  appreciation  with  which 
you  regard  our  educational  work,  the  services  of 
missionaries,  both  men  and  women,  in  the  hospitals 
and  dispensaries,  and  the  self-denying  efforts  put 
forth  by  missionaries  in  the  distribution  of  relief 
in  time  of  famine. 

On  our  part  we  have  been  conscious  from  the 
first  of  only  the  most  disinterested  motives.  Our 
missionaries  have  not  sought  for  pecuniary  gains  at 
the  hands  of  your  people;  they  have  not  been  secret 
emissaries  of  diplomatic  schemes;  their  labours 
have  had  no  political  significance;  they  have  only 
desired  to  communicate  good.  We  are  frank  to 
say  that  while  our  work  has  aimed  to  relieve  suffer- 
ing and  to  improve  the  minds  of  the  young  by  edu- 
cation, we  have  been  moved  by  still  higher  con- 
siderations. We  do  not  believe  that  religion  is 
a  thing  of  ethnic  limitations,  but  that  whatever 
of  Truth  the  Great  Author  of  our  being  has  made 
known  to  men  of  any  nation  is  the  rightful  heritage 
of  all  mankind;  and  that  as  matter  of  natural  and 
imperative  obligation,  those  who  believe  that  they 
have  received  the  truth  are  bound  to  make  it  known 
to  others.  If  it  is  of  advantage  to  mankind  that 
the  coinmerce  of  material  interests,  and  of  ideas 
in  science  or  philosophy  shall  be  promoted,  we  deem 
it  still  more  important  that  free  intercommunication 
shall  be  accorded  to  those  greatest  of  all  truths 
which  concern  the  immortal  destinies  of  men.    And 


ADDRESS  TO  LI  HUNG  CHANG       99 

it  is  with  great  satisfaction  that  we  have  learned 
of  the  assurance  which  you  gave  some  months  since 
to  an  American  Bishop,  that  the  medical  and  educa- 
tional work  of  our  missionaries  would  continue  to 
be  welcomed  and  protected  in  China.  Indeed,  you 
have  for  many  years  given  abundant  proofs  of  your 
generous  spirit  in  this  regard. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  prosecute  our  work 
in  a  courteous  and  appreciative  spirit.  Our  most 
intelligent  missionaries  have  always  shown  great 
respect  for  those  illustrious  sages,  Confucius,  Men- 
cius,  and  others.  It  was  a  missionary  who  trans- 
lated the  Confucian  Classics  into  our  language,  and 
others  have  set  forth  their  just  merits  in  many  a 
publication  for  American  readers.  We  have  not 
hesitated  to  express  our  admiration  for  the  stability 
of  your  government  and  institutions,  the  principles 
of  filial  reverence  and  domestic  order  on  which 
your  institutions  rest,  the  admirable  regulation 
which  bases  political  preferment  not  upon  the  suc- 
cess of  partisan  power  or  skill,  but  upon  competitive 
merit. 

We  believe  that  in  many  of  these  things  we  may 
well  profit  by  your  example,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
our  only  motive  in  offering  to  your  people  our 
medical  and  educational  systems,  and  the  great  and 
salutary  teachings  of  our  Christian  faith,  is  our 
deep  conviction  that  they  will  prove  a  blessing. 

While  we  send  missionaries  to  China,  we  are 
not  unmindful  of  our  duty  to  those  of  your  people 
who  have  come  to  our  own  shores.  They  have  in 
many    instances    been    rudely    treated    by    certain 


loo         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

classes  amongst  us,  mostly  immigrants  from  other 
lands,  but  our  Christian  people  have  uniformly 
shown  them  kindness.  They  have  been  gathered 
into  Sunday  Schools  and  evening  schools;  their 
rights  have  been  defended  in  the  courts,  and  many 
times  have  deputations  from  the  Missionary  Boards 
and  other  benevolent  societies  petitioned  our  Gov- 
ernment in  the  interest  of  just  legislation  for  the 
Chinese. 

Were  you  to  visit  our  Pacific  Coast,  you  would 
observe  with  interest  the  homes  and  refuges  which, 
with  the  co-operation  of  the  Chinese  Consul-General, 
the  Christian  women  of  that  coast  have  provided 
for  unfortunate  Chinese  girls  who  have  been  sold 
into  the  most  debasing  slavery.  We  believe  that 
all  these  best  impulses  of  philanthropy  which  lead 
our  people  to  forget  all  divisions  of  nationality 
and  of  race,  and  to  stretch  our  their  arms  in  true 
brotherhood  to  your  people,  whether  here  or  in 
China,  are  the  direct  fruit  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Divine  Founder  of  Christianity.  Having  through 
the  influence  of  the  Christian  faith  received  so 
rich  an  inheritance  of  blessing  we  feel  constrained, 
in  gratitude  to  God,  to  regard  ourselves  as  debtors 
to  all  men.  For  this  reason  we  strive  to  proclaim 
in  all  lands  the  knowledge  of  our  Divine  Teacher 
and  only  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 

In  closing,  permit  us  to  express  anew  the  satis- 
faction which  we  have  felt  in  being  permitted  to 
meet  your  Excellency,  and  to  thank  you  for  your 
repeated  kindnesses  to  our  missionaries.  We  thank 
the  Great  Father  of  mankind  that  He  has  so  long 


REPLY  OF  THE  VICEROY  loi 

spared  your  life  in  the  midst  of  many  perils;  that 
He  has  permitted  you  to  be  of  such  eminent  service 
to  your  country  in  many  trying  emergencies,  which 
few  men  of  any  nation  could  have  met  with  such 
great  ability  and  success. 

And  we  commend  you  to  His  care  as  you 
return  to  your  distant  home,  where  you  will 
enjoy  the  consciousness  that  not  only  your  country- 
men, but  all  mankind  unite  in  honouring  your 
name." 

As  the  reply  of  the  Viceroy  excited  much  favour- 
able newspaper  comment,  we  also  give  that : — 

"  Gentlemen  : — It  aflfords  me  great  pleasure  to 
acknowledge  the  grateful  welcome  to  this  country 
offered  to  me  by  you  as  representatives  of  various 
Boards  and  Societies  which  have  engaged  in  China 
in  exchanging  our  ideas  of  the  greatest  of  all 
truths  which  concern  the  immortal  destinies  of 
men. 

In  the  name  of  my  August  Master,  the  Emperor 
of  China,  I  beg  to  tender  to  you  his  best  thanks 
for  your  approval  and  appreciation  of  the  protec- 
tion afforded  to  the  American  missionaries  in  China. 
What  we  have  done,  and  how  little  we  have  done 
on  our  part,  is  but  the  duty  of  our  government; 
while  the  missionaries,  as  you  have  so  well  ex- 
pressed, have  not  sought  for  pecuniary  gains  at  the 
hands  of  our  people.  They  have  not  been  secret 
emissaries  of  diplomatic  schemes.  Their  labours 
have  no  political  significance;  and  the  last,  not  the 


102        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

least,  if  I  might  be  permitted  to  add,  they  have  not 
interfered  with  or  usurped  the  rights  of  the  terri- 
torial authorities. 

In  a  philosophical  point  of  view,  as  far  as  I  have 
been  able  to  appreciate,  Christianity  does  not  differ 
much  from  Confucianism,  as  the  Golden  Rule  is 
expressed  in  a  positive  form  in  the  one,  while  it 
is  expressed  in  the  negative  form  in  the  other. 
Logically  speaking,  whether  these  two  forms  of 
expressing  the  same  truth  cover  exactly  the  same 
ground  or  not,  I  leave  to  the  investigation  of  those 
who  have  more  philosophical  tastes.  It  is,  at  the 
present,  enough  to  conclude  that  there  exists  not 
much  difference  between  the  wise  sayings  of  the 
two  greatest  teachers,  on  the  foundations  of  which 
the  whole  structure  of  the  two  systems  of  morality 
is  built.  As  man  is  composed  of  soul,  intellect  and 
body,  I  highly  appreciate  that  your  eminent  Boards, 
in  your  arduous  and  much  esteemed  work  in  the 
field  of  China,  have  neglected  none  of  the  three. 
I  need  not  say  much  about  the  first,  being  an  un- 
knowable mystery  of  which  even  our  great  Con- 
fucius had  no  knowledge.  As  for  intellect,  you 
have  started  numerous  educational  establishments 
which  have  served  as  the  best  means  to  enable  our 
countrymen  to  acquire  a  fair  knowledge  of  the 
modern  arts  and  sciences  of  the  West.  As  for  the 
material  part  of  our  constitution,  your  Societies 
have  started  hospitals  and  dispensaries  to  save  not 
only  the  soul  but  also  the  body  of  our  countrymen. 
I  have  also  to  add  that  in  the  time  of  famine  in 
some  of  the  provinces  you  have  done  your  best  for 


REPLY  OF  THE  VICEROY  103 

the  greatest  number  of  sufferers  to  keep  their  bodies 
and  souls  together. 

Before  I  bring  my  reply  to  a  conclusion,  I  have 
only  two  things  to  mention. 

The  first,  the  opium  smoking,  being  a  great  curse 
to  the  Chinese  population,  your  Societies  have  tried 
your  best  not  only  by  anti-opium  societies,  but  to 
afford  the  best  means  to  stop  the  craving  for  the 
opium;  and,  also,  you  receive  none  as  your  converts 
who  are  opium  smokers. 

I  have  to  tender,  in  my  own  name,  my  best 
thanks  for  your  most  effective  prayers  to  God  to 
spare  my  life  when  it  was  imperilled  by  the  assas- 
sin's bullet,  and  for  the  most  kind  wishes  which 
you  have  just  now  so  ably  expressed  in  the  interests 
of  my  Sovereign,  my  Country  and  my  People." 

The  report  states  that : — 

"  The  members  of  the  delegation  were  then  pre- 
sented by  Dr.  Ellinwood  to  the  Viceroy,  who  shook 
hands  cordially  with  each  one,  occasionally  pausing 
and  asking  some  question  through  his  interpreter. 
Dr.  Wells,  president  of  the  Presbyterian  Board, 
whose  white  beard  and  venerable  appearance  at- 
tracted the  Viceroy's  attention,  was  asked  by  the 
latter,  'How  old  are  you?'  and  on  his  replying 
'  eighty-one,'  the  Viceroy  responded,  '  God  has  kept 
you;  may  He  keep  you  still.'  At  the  close  of  the 
presentation  the  Viceroy  asked  Dr.  Ellinwood, 
*  How  many  Boards  and  Societies  are  there  in 
China  from  America?'  'Eleven,'  was  the  reply, 
'  but  we  represent  about  eight  millions  of  people.' 


104         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

'  They  are  all  represented  here  ?  '  '  Yes.'  *  Then,' 
said  he,  '  you  will  be  good  enough  to  convey  the 
Viceroy's  thanks  to  all  those  people.  The  Viceroy 
fully  appreciates  the  philanthropic  objects  you  have 


And  later,  when  the  delegates  were  beginning  to 
disperse,  he  again  spoke  to  Dr.  Ellinwood,  laying 
his  hand  upon  his  arm,  and  saying: 

"  I  greatly  appreciate  the  kind  expressions  which 
you  gentlemen  have  made  to  me,  and  especially  your 
kind  wishes  for  my  safe  return  home." 

How  little  could  Li  Hung  Chang  or  the  Ameri- 
can representatives  foresee  the  Boxer  uprising 
which  four  years  later  was  to  horrify  Christendom 
with  its  roll  of  martyred  missionaries. 


X — i897-i9c>o 

APPOINTED    GUARDIAN    OF    KOREAN     PRINCE — CON- 
NECTION WITH  KOREA ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE 

PHILIPPINE  MISSION PRESIDENT  OF  CHI  ALPHA 

CIRCLE — BRINGS  OUT   THIRD  BOOK  ON    MISSIONS 

IN  the  summer  of  1897  the  King  of  Korea  sent 
to  America  his  second  son,  young  Prince  Oui 
Wha.  It  was  his  Majesty's  purpose  to  have 
this  son  prepare  under  Christian  influences  for 
either  a  college  course  or  a  military  training,  and 
it  was  hoped  that  thus  he  might  become  of  great 
future  use  to  poor  Korea  in  her  struggles  against 
Japanese  aggression.  The  King  consulted  with  Dr. 
Horace  N.  Allen,  at  that  time  United  States  Minis- 
ter to  Korea,  as  to  a  suitable  guardian  for  his  son 
in  this  country  and  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  named.  In 
explanation  of  this  choice  a  few  words  concerning 
Korea  may  not  be  amiss,  for  though  the  facts  are 
well  known  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  they  may 
not  be  equally  familiar  to  others.  Up  to  1882 
Korea  was  a  Hermit  Kingdom,  but  in  that  year 
made  her  first  treaty  with  a  Western  power.  Here 
was  an  opening  for  a  new  mission  field,  and  Dr. 
Ellinwood  seized  the  opportunity,  being  the  chief 
instrument  in  establishing  two  years  later  the  first 

105 


io6         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

mission  station  in  that  country;  and  in  sending  to 
Seoul  station  the  medical  missionary,  Dr.  Allen. 
The  young  physician  likewise  embraced  his  oppor- 
tunity when  shortly  after  this  an  insurrection  broke 
out,  and  he  found  the  native  doctors  about  to  pour 
boiling  oil  into  the  wounds  of  the  King's  nephew. 
He  persuaded  them  to  allow  him  to  treat  the  case, 
saved  the  life  of  the  Prince,  and  won  the  King's 
friendship. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  Prince  Oui  Wha  in  New 
York,  two  or  more  interviews  took  place  between 
himself  and  his  guardian,  after  which  he  and  his 
small  suite  were  located  in  Washington,  probably 
that  he  might  be  near  the  Korean  minister.  He 
was  placed  under  tutors,  and  plans  were  formed 
to  send  him  later  to  Roanoke  College.  But  royal 
charges  have  often  proved  refractory,  and  the 
Prince  was  no  exception  to  this  rule.  During  a 
short  residence  in  Japan  in  his  earlier  youth,  he  had 
formed  a  preference  for  that  country,  and  as  he 
was  obliged  to  sail  from  Japanese  shores,  advantage 
of  this  was  taken  to  insinuate  into  his  suite  a 
Romanist  interpreter,  unknown  to  the  friends  who 
were  guarding  him.  This  man  steadily  undermined 
all  Protestant  influences.  For  several  months  His 
Highness  remained  in  Washington,  evincing  more 
inclination  for  pleasure  than  for  study,  and  showing 
only  antipathy  to  the  Korean  minister.  That  offi- 
cial family  came  to  New  York  to  consult  with  Dr. 
Ellinwood,  but  before  any  new  plans  for  his  wel- 


CONNECTION  WITH  KOREA        107 

fare  could  be  carried  out,  the  Prince  took  matters 
into  his  own  hands.  Weak  in  character,  untrue 
in  spirit  to  his  own  country,  and  the  victim  of  many 
powerful  and  conflicting  influences,  he  finally  re- 
sented so  much  surveillance,  made  his  plans  in 
secret,  and  quietly  escaped  across  the  continent  to 
Japan. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  out  of  place 
to  anticipate,  and  give  a  letter  received  by  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  in  1908  only  a  few  months  before  his  death, 
in  which  Dr.  Allen  writes : — 

"  I  was  in  New  York  two  weeks  ago  and 
attended  a  banquet  given  by  the  Board  in  the  in- 
terest of  Korea.  ...  It  would  have  cheered  your 
heart  to  hear  the  stirring  speech  of  Dr.  Underwood 
regarding  the  wonderful  awakening  of  these  poor 
Koreans,  with  whom  you  and  I  have  been  so  closely 
associated  through  these  many  years.  It  must  be 
a  great  consolation  to  you  that  you  are  being  spared 
to  see  the  fulfilment  of  your  prayers  and  of  your 
greatest  hopes;  for  it  seems  as  though  that  whole 
nation  were  turning  to  Christ.  This  action  may 
have  greater  effects  upon  Asia,  particularly  upon 
China,  than  we  may  at  first  realize;  for  that  little 
peninsular  people  have  in  former  times  exerted  a 
great  influence  upon  Asiastic  thought.  .  .  .  It  is 
a  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  have  been  instrumental 
in  opening  up  this  work,  even  if  I  was  but  the 
instrument  for  holding  the  medical  scalpel  which 
actually  pried  open  those  closed  doors,  and  I  want 


io8         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

to  thank  you  for  placing  such  faith  in  an  obscure 
young  man,  as  to  send  me  that  memorable  tele- 
gram authorizing  me  to  go  to  that  new  field." 

We  also  give  extracts  from  two  other  letters,  the 
first  written  by  Dr.  Ellin  wood,  September  26,  1899, 
to  Rev.  James  S.  Gale,  missionary  to  Korea : — 

"  I  want  to  thank  all  the  brethren  and  sisters 
of  Seoul  Station  for  the  kind  message  of  congratu- 
lation from  the  station  which  is  conveyed  in  your 
courteous  and  graceful  letter  of  August  23.  I 
scarcely  realize  that  I  am  seventy-three  years  old 
until  something  of  this  kind  reminds  me,  though 
at  the  same  time  I  can  see  symptoms  of  more  or 
less  shakiness  occasionally.  I  may  say  that  I  have 
no  gloomy  feelings  as  the  result  of  the  plain  arith- 
metic which  measures  my  life.  I  thank  God  for 
all  the  good  that  I  have  received  in  His  service 
and  am  impressed  with  the  forbearance  which  has 
been  shown  toward  me  by  my  Master,  not  only,  but 
by  the  church  and  my  friends  generally,  amid  all 
the  imperfections  of  which  I  am  conscious  through- 
out my  life." 

To  this  Mr.  Gale  replied : — 

"  Seoul,  Nov.  22,  1899. 
...  I  may  say  before  closing  that  Seoul  Sta- 
tion was  much  touched  by  your  letter  of  September 
26.  We  all  remember  that  your  years  of  labor 
correspond  exactly  with  the  steady  increase  in  num- 
bers and  influence  of  American  Presbyterian  work, 


THE  PHILIPPINE  MISSION  109 

until  it  has  reached  its  present  magnificent  propor- 
tions. A  monument  of  bronze  and  marble  is  no- 
where to  be  compared  with  it.  May  we  each  be 
privileged  even  in  the  smallest  degree  to  leave 
behind  such  a  remembrance  of  us  on  earth." 

The  American  occupation  of  the  Philippines,  fol- 
lowing our  war  with  Spain,  also  opened  up  new 
territory  for  Mission  work,  and  immediately  Dr. 
Ellinwood  was  fired  with  zeal  to  enter  in  and  there 
establish  a  Protestant  station.  As  he  said,  "  the  call 
of  Providence  was  mandatory,  and  the  opportunity 
at  our  door."  Among  other  earnest  appeals  which 
he  sent  forth,  was  the  following  characteristic 
article  (slightly  abbreviated)  which  was  published 
in  November,  1898,  in  the  Church  at  Home  and 
Abroad,  and  entitled 

The  Diplomatic  Situation  from  a  Missionary  Standpoint. 

"  The  great  body  of  American  people,  save  the  soldiers  who 
have  fought  so  bravely,  have  scarcely  felt  the  shock  of  the 
hundred  days'  war  with  Spain.  Our  shores  have  not  been  in- 
vaded by  hostile  armies,  there  has  been  no  perceptible  inter- 
ference with  the  general  prosperity  of  the  country,  and  yet 
seldom  have  issues  so  momentous  been  decided.  ...  I 
doubt  whether  any  people  ever  entered  upon  a  foreign  war 
with  so  little  prospect  of  self-aggrandizement.  The  keynote 
of  the  President's  message  to  Congress  and  his  declaration  of 
war  was  that  of  philanthropy.  Both  were  of  the  nature  of  an 
appeal  for  humanity,  and  such  was  the  appeal  that  was  so 
generously  responded  to. 

Thoughtful  people  soon  came  to  feel  that  over  and  above, 
or  rather  perhaps  underlying  the  action  of  President  and  Con- 
gress, there  were  great  providential  designs  far  transcending 


no         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

the  forecast  of  the  Government  and  the  public  press.  From 
the  start,  everything  assumed  grander  proportions  than  had 
been  expected.  The  Government  had  no  plans  for  Porto 
Rico;  Manila  and  the  Ladrones  had  scarcely  been  thought  of 
by  the  people  at  large,  and  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the 
cabinet  had  any  thought  of  national  aggrandizement ;  but  the 
one  decisive  victory  in  Manila  Harbour  on  May  ist,  not 
merely  destroyed  Spain's  Pacific  Fleet,  but  left  the  Philippine 
Archipelago  a  helpless  dependency  on  our  hands.  .  .  .  But 
the  most  striking  element  in  this  three  months'  history  is 
the  way  in  which  Providence  seems  to  hold  us  to  the  logical 
conclusions  of  our  professed  aim  and  intent.  We  had  pro- 
claimed to  the  world  that  we  were  moved  by  broad  considera- 
tions of  humanity — Cuba  was  only  a  specialization  of  the 
principle,  and  it  was  the  great  principle  and  not  the  mere 
geographical  situation  of  an  island,  that  was  supreme. 

We  had  only  thought  of  Cuba,  but  it  looks  very  much  as  if 
God  had  thought  of  something  more.  Humanity  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  geography.  Our  enemy  was  guilty  of  other  oppressions 
in  the  Eastern  Hemisphere  as  well  as  in  the  Western,  and 
as  Divine  ordering  would  have  it,  we  had  made  our  conquest 
in  the  East  before  Cuba  was  ever  touched;  and  by  common 
consent  there  was  greater  need  of  deliverance  in  the  Philip- 
pines than  in  the  Antilles.  What  was  it  then  that  we  had 
been  fighting  for?  Was  it  really  for  the  uplifting  of  humanity 
wherever  oppressed,  or  was  it  for  some  narrower  and  more 
selfish  consideration  growing  out  of  mere  vicinage  and  the 
embarrassment  of  having  a  disagreeable  neighbour. 

Judging  from  the  standpoint  of  Foreign  Missions  we  must 
refuse  to  consider  the  question  of  near  or  far,  and  we  must 
repudiate  the  argument  of  those,  some  of  them  the  best  of 
men,  who  claim  that  because  our  Government  had  only  men- 
tioned Cuba,  that  therefore,  it  is  pledged  to  carry  its  conquest 
no  further.  .  .  .  Another  argument  often  presented  of  late 
is  that  the  ignorant  and  tropical  peoples,  whether  in  the  East 
or  in  the  West,  are  not  worth  the  outlay.  But  can  we  forget 
that  the  heathen  are  loved,  not  for  what  they  are,  but  for 
what  grace  can  make  of  them?     Can  we  forget  that  God's 


DIPLOMATIC  SITUATION  iii 

love  even  for  His  Church  is  based  not  so  much  upon  a  present 
estimate,  as  upon  that  glorious  prospective  in  which  a  thou- 
sand years  are  as  one  day?  The  thousands  of  missionaries 
who,  from  the  time  of  Paul  and  Titus  in  the  island  of  Crete, 
down  to  the  devoted  missionary  who  has  spent  his  life  for 
the  Dwarfs  of  West  Africa,  rise  up  as  witnesses,  and  put  to 
shame  their  argument  that  the  United  States  has  been  squan- 
dering its  resources  for  worthless  people.  If  we  are  right 
in  believing  that  this  has  been  a  providential  war — that  the 
hand  of  God  has  been  in  the  marvellous  victories  which  have 
been  gained  with  such  celerity  and  with  comparatively  so  little 
expenditure,  we  may  conclude  that  it  was  in  effect  a  mission- 
ary war,  for  Missions  are  simply  the  current  work  of  God's 
Providence  for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  We  have  fought 
not  merely  for  the  Cubans  of  to-day,  or  the  Filipinos  of  to- 
day, but  for  the  coming  generations  in  these  tropical  island 
groups.  The  real  question  has  been  whether  Cuba  shall  re- 
main for  four  centuries  more  as  in  the  past,  or  shall  take  her 
place  among  the  enlightened  and  prosperous  nations  of  the 
earth;  and  whether  the  papal  hierarchy  under  the  flag  of  an 
effete  nation  shall  longer  continue  to  oppress  the  Philippines  as 
in  the  past,  or  whether  the  standard  of  liberty,  good  govern- 
ment, and  Christian  regeneration  shall  be  raised. 

There  was  still  another  significant  providential  force  which 
urged  upon  the  United  States  the  crusade  which  it  has  under- 
taken with  so  great  success.  Three  years  ago  the  Christian 
world  witnessed  atrocities  among  the  Armenians  which  were 
a  disgrace  to  the  century  in  which  we  live,  while  Christian 
nations  looked  upon  the  slaughter  with  folded  arms.  In  this 
country  there  was  a  universal  outburst  of  indignation,  and 
from  the  pulpit  and  press,  condemnation  was  poured  upon 
the  cold  and  heartless  policy  of  the  great  Powers  across  the 
waters  which  held  each  other  in  a  deadlock  of  inaction.  The 
outrage  seemed  aggravated  still  further  when  these  same 
Powers  actually  abetted  the  Turk  in  his  war  upon  the  help- 
less Greeks.  Comparing  these  things  with  the  more  prac- 
tical sympathy  which  at  earlier  periods  had  been  shown  for 
the    oppressed    of    Turkey   and    the    slaughtered    Greeks    of 


112         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Scio  and  Missilonghi,  it  seemed  as  if  the  shadow  on  the 
dial  was  turning  back,  and  the  Christian  world  was  receding 
towards  the  spirit  of  the  dark  ages.  Humanity  was  apparently 
subordinated  to  political  interests,  as  if  common  ethics  had 
disappeared  from  the  policy  of  governments.  Along  the 
same  line  France  had  inflicted  unspeakable  outrages  upon 
our  weaker  governments  in  Madagascar  and  in  Siam.  Rus- 
sia with  the  menace  of  brute  force  had  driven  Japan  from 
Port  Arthur  and  occupied  the  position  herself,  as  a  lion  would 
rob  a  jackal  of  its  prey,  and  the  mailed  fist  of  Germany  had 
with  indecent  haste  wrested  half  a  province  from  China  upon 
the  smallest  pretext.  *  Might  makes  right '  was  becoming 
practically  the  motto  of  Christendom." 

[But  in  answer  to  the  universal  condemnation  expressed  in 
America  by  the  pulpit  and  press,  came  back  the  retort : — ] 

'  How  about  Cuba,  only  ninety  miles  from  your  boasted  land 
of  freedom?  You  are  not  hampered  by  any  international  com- 
plications.' We  were  shut  up  to  the  plain  logic  of  all  we  had 
said,  we  stood  self-convicted  before  mankind.  For  the  eman- 
cipation of  humanity,  we  were  like  Israel,  driven  into  the 
sea  by  forces  which  we  could  not  control.  We  can  understand 
it  now.  This  nation  was  placed  in  the  vanguard  of  a  new  and 
holier  crusade  for  the  twentieth  century.  As  Victor  Hugo 
would  have  expressed  it,  the  eternal  fitness  of  things  had 
issued  its  decree  against  the  old  selfish  policies,  and  had  in- 
augurated a  new  code  of  national  morality.  It  was  shown 
that  no  more  can  a  Christian  nation  live  unto  itself  or  die 
unto  itself  than  a  Christian  man.  Humanity  is  one.  .  .  . 
And  it  seems  proper  that  Christians  should  recognize  the 
hand  of  God  in  what  has  so  strangely  transcended  all  ex- 
pectations. Especially  does  it  become  us  to  ask  what  are  the 
duties  which  the  interests  of  Christ's  advancing  kingdom  now 
lay  upon  us."  .    .    . 

His  hopes  and  prayers  were  answered  when,  in 
the  following  April,  a  Mission  station  was  estab- 
lished  at    Manila,   the   Presbyterian   Board   being 


PRESIDENT  OF  CHI  ALPHA  CIRCLE  113 

the  first  in  the  field.  And  the  two  succeeding  years 
saw  one  opened  at  Iloilo  and  another  at  Dumaguete. 

For  over  ten  years  Dr.  Ellinwood  had  greatly 
enjoyed  his  membership  in  the  Chi  Alpha  Circle, 
a  society  comprising  most  of  the  well  known  Pres- 
byterian clergymen  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 
For  its  meetings,  held  at  the  homes  of  different 
members,  every  Saturday  afternoon  during  each 
winter,  papers  on  various  subjects  were  prepared; 
at  which  time  they  were  read  and  discussed.  A 
pleasing  social  feature  came  at  the  close  of  each 
gathering  when  the  ladies  of  the  household  were 
wont  to  appear,  and  a  light  collation  was  served. 
On  January  7,  1899,  Dr.  Ellinwood  received  noti- 
fication that  he  had  been  unanimously  elected  presi- 
dent of  this  circle  for  the  ensuing  year. 

And  a  few  days  later  Mrs.  Ellinwood  was  told 
by  Mr.  Hand,  treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  that  she  "  would  have  been  pleased  to 
have  heard  her  husband  speak  on  January  11,  be- 
fore the  business  men  of  New  York.  There  was," 
he  said,  "  all  the  fire  and  enthusiasm  of  a  man  of 
thirty.  It  was  fine!  And  the  next  day  I  looked 
to  see  him  exhausted,  but  he  seemed  fresh  and 
strong." 

During  this  year  the  Secretary  brought  out 
his  third  and  last  book  entitled  "  Questions  and 
Phases  of  Modern  Missions."  The  manuscript  of 
this  was  handed  to  Mr.  Dodd  (of  the  publishing 
house  of  Dodd  &  Mead)  with  the  request  that  he 


114        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

would  have  some  one  look  it  over.  Later  a  note 
Mras  received  from  Mr.  Dodd  saying  that  "  it  was 
not  his  habit  to  show  the  opinion  of  the  expert  to 
the  writer  of  the  book,  but  in  this  case  he  would 
do  so."    The  following  was  enclosed : — 

"  Anything  from  Dr.  Ellinwood  is  worthy  of 
careful  attention.  He  is  broad-minded;  open  to 
new  ideas;  a  slave  to  no  theory;  and  he  can  write 
good,  clear,  even  brilliant  English. 

The  present  work  appears  to  be  made  up  of  ad- 
dresses or  lectures  delivered  on  various  occasions. 
The  origin  of  these  papers  has  brought  out  some 
of  Dr.  Ellinwood's  most  remarkable  powers.  There 
are  passages  in  some  of  them  of  thrilling  eloquence. 
And  as  he  has  always  been  a  scholar  and  a  teacher, 
rather  than  a  rhetorician;  and  an  organizer  and 
administrator,  rather  than  a  theorist,  the  disadvan- 
tages of  a  collection  of  papers  such  as  the  present, 
are  reduced  to  a  minimum.  There  is  order  and 
progress  in  their  arrangement,  and  the  subjects 
treated  are  some  of  the  live  questions  of  the  day. 
Especially  interesting  are  the  chapters  on  the  Chris- 
tian ideas  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  religions 
of  India,  China  and  Japan.  Dr.  Ellinwood  speaks 
as  an  expert  on  these  subjects,  and  what  he  says 
is  needed;  not  only  for  the  enlightenment  of  the 
public,  on  the  heathenism  of  the  East;  but  as  a 
correction  of  certain  growing  superstitions  here 
at  home.  His  treatment  of  the  subject  is  thorough, 
and  original.  The  second  part  begins  with  a  chap- 
ter on  the  '  Regeneration  of  Mexico,'  and  one  upon 


THIRD  BOOK  ON  MISSIONS         115 

'  The  Dawn  of  Hawaii,'  etc.  I  should  think  you 
would  make  this  book  '  go.'  Dr.  Ellin  wood's  name 
alone  would  be  a  strong  lift.  I  think  some  one 
will  certainly  publish  it,  if  you  do  not." 

The  book  was  brought  out  by  Dodd  &  Mead. 

At  about  this  time  a  little  paragraph  appeared 
in  the  New  York  Evangelist  which  speaks  for 
itself  :— 

"  Dr.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  the  senior  Secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  was  made 
to  realize  last  Monday  afternoon  in  what  high 
honour  and  love  he  is  held  by  a  very  large  circle 
of  friends.  The  occasion  was  the  unveiling  of  an 
oil  portrait  of  the  doctor  and  it  was  a  memorable 
one,  replete  with  tender  feeling.  It  was  to  com- 
memorate the  long  years  of  service  of  the  beloved 
Secretary  that  the  idea  originated  with  Dr.  Arthur 
J.  Brown,  to  present  to  the  Board  this  portrait 
which  now  graces  the  walls  of  the  Board  room. 
Dr.  George  Alexander,  pastor  of  the  University 
Place  Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city,  made  the 
address  of  the  occasion,  and  it  was  one  of  Dr. 
Alexander's  happiest  efforts;  while  Dr.  Ellinwood's 
reply  was  tender  and  felicitous,  voicing  his  deep 
feeling  of  gratitude  for  such  an  appreciative  ex- 
pression of  regard  from  his  friends  in  the  Board, 
who,  by  defraying  the  cost  of  the  portrait,  thus 
testified  their  love  for  their  colleague." 


XI — 1 900- 1 903 

HOME    LIFE    IN    CORNWALL TRIP    TO    BERMUDA 

DEATH     OF    HIS    GRANDSON LETTERS MUTUAL 

ESTEEM      BETWEEN      COLLEAGUES SECRETARIAL 

LABOURS    LIGHTENED 

IN  the  spring  of  1900  Dr.  Ellinwood  purchased 
a  home  in  Cornwall,  Conn.;  and  here,  amid 
the  beautiful  foothills  of  the  Berkshires,  he 
spent  the  last  nine  summers  of  his  life,  and  many 
of  his  happiest  days.  It  afforded  no  small  part  of 
his  pleasure  to  employ  leisure  hours  in  cultivating 
a  small  garden,  in  aiding  his  wife  with  her  flowers, 
and  in  pruning  his  apple  orchard.  His  two  married 
daughters,  Jean  and  Marjorie,  lived  near  him  here, 
the  former  now  Mrs.  George  Woolsey  of  New 
York,  the  latter,  Mrs.  John  Edward  Calhoun  of 
Cornwall,  and  their  children  were  a  never  failing 
source  of  delight  to  their  grandfather.  One  after 
another  he  had  baptized  them,  till,  on  the  last  occa- 
sion, he  was  so  enfeebled  that  it  was  necessary 
to  steady  his  shaking  hand  as  it  sprinkled  the  water 
on  the  head  of  a  little  namesake. 

One  abiding  phase  of  his  home  life  was  touched 
on  in  a  letter  from  his  niece,  received  several  years 

116 


HOME  LIFE  IN  CORNWALL         117 

later,  after  his  death.  She  was  speaking  of  his  wife, 
and  said,  "  What  an  object  lesson  to  young  people 
of  to-day  their  married  life  was !  Your  father  used 
to  make  such  beautiful  and  chivalrous  speeches  to 
and  about  her,  .  .  .  and  nothing  pleased  him 
more  than  to  have  people  adore  her !  " 

During  his  earlier  summers  here  he  never  failed 
to  attend  and  take  part  in  the  weekly  prayer  meet- 
ings, and  one  evening  when  the  subject  was  Paul, 
a  note  was  taken  of  his  tribute  to  the  great 
Apostle : — 

"  Paul  was,"  he  said,  "  the  most  wonderful  man 
— merely  human  man — the  world  had  ever  known, 
not  even  excepting  Moses,  and  certainly  not  David. 
His  influence  in  the  world  was  next  to  that  of  Christ 
himself,  and  flowed  through  and  permeated  the 
ages." 

In  the  early  fall  of  1900  he  returned  to  his  New 
York  home  and  office,  well  equipped  as  he  thought, 
for  a  long  winter  of  hard  work,  but  alas !  only 
three  or  four  months  more  of  really  able-bodied 
labour  were  granted  him.  With  the  coming  of  the 
new  year  his  wife's  health  began  to  fail,  and  soon 
she  was  prostrated  with  a  long  and  serious  illness. 
His  two  older  daughters — one  of  them  at  that  time 
an  invalid, — were  spending  the  winter  in  Florida, 
and  thus,  weighed  down  by  anxiety  and  loneliness 
and  hard  work,  he  fell  a  prey  to  his  hereditary  ene- 


ii8         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

my  paralysis  agitans.  Some  slight  indications  of 
this  disease  had  already  been  observed,  but  the  nerv- 
ous strain  of  these  months  greatly  hastened  its 
approach. 

With  the  beginning  of  1902,  both  Dr.  Ellinwood 
and  his  wife  were  literally  taken  out  of  sick  beds 
and  sent  to  Bermuda.  They  had  always  been  en- 
thusiastic travellers,  and  for  him  an  ocean  voyage 
with  its  enforced  quiet  had  often  proved  the  best 
prescription  for  tired  head  and  jaded  nerves.  He 
had  crossed  the  ocean  some  fourteen  times  alto- 
gether; but  this  was  his  last  sea  trip.  As  if  realizing 
this  he  extracted  from  every  moment  its  full 
measure  of  enjoyment,  and  sent  home  happy  letters. 
A  short  note  to  his  little  five-year-old  grandson, 
Pierpont  Woolsey,  is  here  given: 

"  Dear  Little  Pierpont  : 

Grandma  and  grandpa  send  you  ever  so  much 
love,  and  a  lot  for  Peggy,  and  enough  left  over 
for  your  papa  and  mamma.  I'm  glad  those  '  sparks 
that  flied  down  from  the  hotel '  didn't  reach  to 
thirty-sixth  Street.  It  was  in  the  night,  too,  so 
that  you  couldn't  get  out  your  *  fire  engy.'  Too 
bad !  This  letter  is  going  to  New  York  on  a  big 
steamship,  almost  as  long  as  your  street.  It  is  the 
one  that  brought  us  down  here.  I  hope  we  can 
get  some  shells  for  you.  Our  lawn  is  full  of  roses 
and  lilies,  and  we  have  some  little  white  chicks. 
The  donkeys  here  are  queer,  and  they  haven't  good 
voices  for  singing.     When  men  first  saw   these 


DEATH  OF  HIS  GRANDSON         119 

islands  the  only  inhabitants  were  pigs.     Now  they 
are  covered  with  beautiful  white  houses. 
Your  affectionate 

Grandpa." 

It  was  a  heavy  blow  to  the  tender  heart  of  the 
grandfather  when,  ten  months  later,  this  splen- 
did boy,  his  first  grandson,  was  fatally  stricken 
with  diphtheria.  It  was  the  verdict  of  even  impar- 
tial acquaintances  that  he  was  a  lad  of  peculiar 
promise.  Of  handsome  face  and  figure,  and  bright 
mind,  he  possessed  what  was  of  even  more  worth, 
an  innate  nobility  of  nature.  Unselfishness,  warm- 
heartedness, and  a  sensitive  consideration  for  the 
feelings  of  others,  early  distinguished  him.  Yet 
withal  he  was  mischievous  and  merry.  A  many- 
sided  temperament;  and  much  had  been  expected 
of  his  future. 

His  death  held  one  element  of  consolation  for 
the  grandfather,  who  said  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
"  I  shall  not  dread  my  own  going  now,  so  much, 
since  he  has  gone  on  before,  and  is  waiting  for  me." 
A  few  days  later  he  wrote  from  a  full  heart  to  the 
sorrowing  parents — 

"  Sunday  morning,  December  21,  1902. 
My  Dear  Children  : 

It  is  not  yet  a  full  week  since  the  spirit  of  dear 
little  Pierpont  took  its  flight  to  a  better  world.  The 
wounds  of  the  heavy  blow  to  our  earthly  hopes  are 
still  fresh  and  sore  in  all  our  hearts.     Yet  as  we 


I20         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

think  of  it  all  more  and  more,  many  and  great  com- 
forts arise.  His  departure  is  what  Dr.  Babcock 
meant  by  '  emancipation.'  He  has  *  run  home  from 
school/  or  rather  he  has  been  promoted  to  a  higher 
and  better  school.  He  is  to-day  among  the  '  saints 
made  perfect ';  he  is  with  the  great  Teacher  of  us 
all,  who  makes  no  mistakes.  Our  precious  little 
boy  suffered  much  here,  for  one  so  young,  and  it 
is  not  unlikely  that  with  his  peculiar  susceptibility 
he  might  have  been  liable  to  much  sickness  in  later 
years.  The  watchword  for  us  now  is,  not  '  lost,' 
but  *  safe.'  Our  lives  and  those  of  the  surviving 
children  are  yet  serious  problems;  his  has  reached 
completeness  and  perfection.  How  many  thou- 
sands of  doting  parents  are  disappointed  in  the 
development  of  their  children  as  they  grow  up! 
and  what  a  blessing  it  would  be  if  they  could  know 
just  when  it  were  best  that  their  earthly  curriculum 
should  close !  Well,  the  only  way  is  to  let  God  de- 
cide that  question.  He  only  knows  the  end  from 
the  beginning.  For  the  dear  Pierpont,  God  has 
decided,  and  '  He  doeth  all  things  well.'  As  it  is, 
the  brief  life  of  five  and  a  half  years  is  a  beautiful 
thing — beautiful  to  us  as  a  memory,  and  an  inspi- 
ration, beautiful  as  the  first  chapter  of  an  immortal 
career.  I  have  thought  often  since  Pierpont's 
death,  of  the  slight  and  casual  nature  of  the  change. 
A  few  moments  before,  he  was  perfectly  conscious. 
.  .  .  How  did  the  last  breath  differ  from  the  pre- 
ceding ones,  except  that  it  was  the  last  ?  How  did 
the  last  pulse  differ  from  all  the  rest,  except  that 
it    was    the    last?      None    of    them,    the    breath, 


DEATH  OF  HIS  GRANDSON         121 

the  pulse,  the  nerve  of  the  heart,  could  rep- 
resent the  conscious  soul.  It  was  only  the 
'  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  that  was  dissolved,' 
the  spirit  now  dwells  '  in  a  house  not  made  with 
hands ' ;  not  of  corruptible  material.  We  love  the 
little  body,  because  that  also  shall  be  raised  again 
in  glory;  but  Pierpont,  Pierpont,  is  not  in  the  tomb; 
nor  is  the  realm  of  spirit  in  which  he  dwells  far 
away.  It  may  be  all  about  us  here,  separated  only  by 
a  thin  veil — only  hidden  perhaps  from  our  blind 
eyes.  Nor  have  we  any  reason  to  think  of  our  dear 
one  as  lonely.  Not  only  is  he  '  cuddling  in  the  arms 
of  Jesus,'  *  but  he  has  there  a  grandfather,  and  two 
grandmothers  who  doubtless  greeted  him  with  tender 
love.  It  is  a  pleasant  thought  to  me  that  ere  very 
long  I  shall  be  with  him,  and  that  you  may  think  of 
us  as  walking  together  again  as  we  did  on  Thanks- 
giving Day.  I  only  wish  I  could  be  as  confident  of 
my  own  salvation  as  I  am  of  his.  God  grant  that 
this  parting  may  be  a  means  of  grace  to  us  all. 
With  love  and  sympathy. 

Your  Father," 

During  these  last  summers  a  family  reunion  was 
always  held  on  Dr.  Ellinwood's  birthday,  June  20, 
and  many  beautiful  letters  were  received.  The  fol- 
lowing from  Mr.  Speer,  came  on  this  his  seventy- 
sixth  anniversary : — 

*0nly  a  few  months  before  this,  at  a  time  when  he  was 
perfectly  well,  he  was  seated  on  his  mother's  lap,  talking  about 
heaven,  when  something  prompted  her  to  ask — "Would  you 
be  lonely  if  you  were  in  heaven  now  ?  "  "Oh,  no,"  he  replied, 
"  I'd  just  cuddle  down  in  Jesus'  arms." 


122         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

"  My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood  : 

To-day  is  your  birthday  I  think,  and  I  want  to 
write  you  a  note  of  congratulation  and  of  love.  I 
could  not  tell  you  if  I  tried,  all  that  you  have  been 
to  me;  and  how  fully  I  trust  and  admire  you,  or 
how  deeply  I  love  you.  Again  and  again  you  would 
have  been  tried  with  me,  in  these  eleven  years  that 
we  have  worked  together,  if  you  had  not  been  the 
Christian  that  you  are. 

In  kindness,  in  generosity,  in  high-mindedness,  in 
charity  such  as  Paul  extols,  in  patience,  I  have  just 
seen  no  flaw  in  you  all  these  years,  and  you  have 
been  as  a  father  and  brother  alike  in  all  the  rela- 
tions of  our  work.  I  count  my  association  with 
you  one  of  the  rarest  and  best  blessings  of  my  life, 
and  I  have  had  many,  rare  and  good.  It  has  been 
a  constant  stimulant  and  delight  to  see  you  always 
open  to  anything  new,  that  is  also  good,  and  trying 
all  things  while  holding  fast  only  what  is  worth 
keeping. 

You  have  set  before  us  always  an  illustration  of 
right  liberality  and  progressiveness  of  views,  and 
I  hope  I  shall  never  forget  the  great  lesson  you  are 
ever  teaching  in  this  regard.  If  I  were  going  to 
tell  you  all  I  owe  to  you,  I  should  have  to  write 
a  volume;  and  all  I  began  to  say  was,  that  I  love 
you  with  my  heart  and  mind,  and  wish  you  many, 
many  returns  of  the  day. 

Very  affectionately  yours, 

Robert  E.  Speer." 

The  friendship  between  these  two  men  was  very 


ESTEEM  BETWEEN  COLLEAGUES  123 

beautiful.  From  the  time,  eleven  years  before,  when 
the  senior  Secretary  set  his  heart  upon  securing  for 
the  Board  the  services  of  the  young  Princeton 
theological  student,  and  to  that  end  journeyed  to 
Princeton  and  Syracuse  persuading  and  arranging, 
— he  had  felt  an  ever-growing  love  for  his  young 
colleague.  The  relation  was — as  indicated  by  Mr. 
Speer — twofold;  that  of  father  and  son,  and  also 
that  of  brothers.  My  father  felt  an  enthusiasm 
of  admiration  for  the  splendid  abilities  of  the 
younger  man,  and  for  his  consecrated  Christian 
character. 

In  a  fine  address  delivered  the  next  year  in  Pitts- 
burg by  another  beloved  colleague.  Dr.  A.  W.  Hal- 
sey,  the  following  generous  tribute  was  paid : — 

"  Take  these  two,  Robert  E.  Speer  and  F.  F. 
Ellinwood,  one  representing  in  his  intellectual  and 
spiritual  capacity  the  youth  of  the  Church,  and  the 
other  in  his  old  age,  the  ripened  thought  of  the 
Church,  his  mind  and  spirit  vigorous  as  of  yore, 
and  they  will  stand  comparison  with  the  best  officials 
in  any  similar  organization  in  the  world.  To-day 
the  judgment  of  Dr.  Ellinwood,  his  far-reaching 
vision,  his  broad  statesmanlike  grasp  of  mission 
problems,  his  unerring  insight,  mark  him  as  a  leader 
among  leaders,  while  Robert  E.  Speer  easily  ranks 
among  the  leaders  of  the  young  people  of  our  own 
and  other  denominations." 

Dr.  Arthur  Brown  also  wrote : — 


124         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

"  June  30,  1902. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

It  was  delightful  to  receive  your  letter  of  the 
twenty-seventh  inst.  Any  one  who  did  not  per- 
sonally know  you,  would  infer  from  these  vigorous 
and  enthusiastic  sentences  that  you  were  fifty-six, 
rather  than  seventy-six.  It  would  be  a  great  relief 
to  me  if  I  could  feel  that  I  would  have  at  your  age 
half  the  intellectual  clearness  and  power  that  you 
manifest.  .  .  .  The  influence  you  have  exerted 
during  the  years  of  your  active  labours,  has  had  a 
mighty  power  both  in  the  Board,  and  on  the  Mission 
field." 

The  reciprocal  love  and  esteem  between  the  Sec- 
retary and  all  his  colleagues  was  perfect.  When, 
some  three  years  later  the  treasurer  of  the  Board, 
Mr.  Charles  W.  Hand,  came  to  resign  his  position, 
the  following  letter  was  received  from  him : — 

"  457  Clinton  Avenue,  Brooklyn. 
My  Dear  Friend: 

I  thank  you  for  your  kind  and  beautiful  letter. 
It  has  indeed  been  a  hard  thing  for  me  to  leave 
the  work.  The  idea  has  been  forced  on  me,  and  I 
have  had  it  in  mind  about  two  years.  ...  I  value 
your  letter,  as  does  my  family,  more  than  I  can 
express,  and  I  can  truthfully  say  that  the  personal 
relationship  I  have  had  with  you  is  among  the 
sweetest  and  most  helpful  experiences  of  my  life. 
I  have  loved  you  from  my  first  entry  upon  the  work, 
and  have  always  held  you  in  the  highest  respect 


SECRETARIAL  LABOURS  LIGHTENED  125 

and  esteem.  I  know  of  no  one  who  has  rendered 
the  Church  more  valuable  and  consecrated  service. 
...  I  pray  for  your  comfort  and  for  the  privi- 
lege of  seeing  you  many  times  in  the  flesh." 

In  spite  of  failing  powers,  Dr.  Ellinwood  had 
been  loath  to  give  up  his  lectures  on  Comparative 
Religions;  but  in  the  spring  of  1903,  he  was 
compelled  to  resign;  and  was  appointed  Professor 
Emeritus. 

For  the  same  reason  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish, 
about  this  time,  another  portion  of  his  work;  and 
the  tender  consideration  of  Mr.  Speer  hastened  to 
inform  him  of  the  step  the  Board  had  taken  for 
his  relief. 

"  My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

The  Board  has  just  this  minute  unanimously 
adopted  the  action  which  Mr.  James  and  Dr.  Shaw 
showed  you,  only  modifying  it  so  as  to  make  clear 
that  you  are  still  to  keep,  if  you  will,  your  full  place 
in  the  council,  and  at  the  head  of  it,  but  be  relieved 
of  all  detailed  responsibility  for  correspondence 
with  the  Missions.  I  want  to  write  at  once  to  tell 
you  how  glad  we  all  are  at  this  action — that  is,  if 
you  are  glad.  We  love  and  respect  you  so  much 
that  nothing  that  does  not  commend  itself  to  you, 
could  please  us.  There  is  nothing  that  we  who  have 
been  associated  with  you,  would  not  do  to  make 
everything  as  free  from  being  a  needless  burden  to 
you  as  possible.  We  long  to  have  you  with  us 
for  years  to  come,  and  it  was  the  earnest  wish  of 
the  Board,  strongly  expressed,  that  your  judgment 


126         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

was  to  be  exercised  as  ever,  but  that  you  were  to 
be  free  to  do  henceforth,  as  Mr.  James  said,  '  just 
as  you  please.' 

I  am  only  sending  this  note  from  the  Board  meet- 
ing to  tell  you  how  joyful  I  am  that  the  Board  has 
provided  thus  for  your  freedom  from  all  needless 
care,  and  to  assure  you  of  our  deep  and  abiding 
love. 

With  deepest  affection, 

Robert  E.  Speer." 

The  following  notice  of  the  Board's  action  was 
received  a  day  or  two  later: — 

"  In  view  of  the  long  and  splendid  services  of 
our  senior  Secretary,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Frank  F.  Ellin- 
wood,  and  in  the  conviction  that  the  duties  of  his 
office  are  at  present  altogether  too  exacting,  the 
Board,  with  high  appreciation  of  his  personal  worth 
and  a  deep  sense  of  its  obligation  to  him,  hereby 
relieves  him  from  all  further  executive  correspond- 
ence with  the  Missions,  with  the  understanding, 
however,  that  his  present  rank  as  active  senior  Sec- 
retary remain  unchanged. 

In  taking  this  action,  the  Board  desires  to  express 
to  Dr.  Ellinwood  its  affectionate  regard,  and  to 
assure  him  of  its  earnest  prayer  for  the  long  con- 
tinuance of  his  health  and  vigour. 

John  Balcom  Shaw, 
In  behalf  of  the  Nominating  Committee. 
Darwin  R.  James, 
In  behalf  of  the  Finance  Committee. 
New  York,  May  7,  1903." 


LETTERS  127 

When  it  became  known  on  the  Mission  fields  that 
the  Secretary  had  laid  aside  his  pen,  many  touching 
letters  of  regret  came  in  from  the  different  stations. 
Nowhere  was  it  more  keenly  felt  than  in  Korea. 
The  following  extract  is  from  a  letter  signed, 
"  Committee  of  Missions,  C.  A.  Moffet,  C.  C. 
Vinton." 

"  We  are  loath  to  sever  the  intimate  relation  we 
have  held  with  yourself  for  nineteen  years  as  a 
Mission.  These  have  been  years  of  the  full  blessing 
of  God  upon  our  joint  work — yours  and  ours.  They 
have  been  years  in  which  we  have  been  drawn 
into  a  close  and  happy  relation  to  yourself.  And 
they  are  years  in  which  we  have  come  to  look  on 
you  as  the  truest  of  counsellors,  the  most  untiring 
of  advocates  and  the  most  faithful  on  our  behalf 
at  the  throne  of  grace;  and  as  one  altogether  worthy 
of  our  highest  love  and  affection.  It  is  not  over- 
stating to  say  that  we  are  convinced,  from  a  human 
standpoint,  the  beginning  of  Christian  work  in  this 
peninsula  would  but  for  you  have  been  still  longer 
delayed. 

To  you  in  a  pre-eminent  measure,  for  this  and 
other  reasons,  it  is  due  that  there  is  to-day  a  Church 
of  Christ  in  Korea,  and  that  that  Church  is  so  wide- 
spread, so  vigorous  and  so  firmly  planted.  Our 
feeling  therefore  at  receiving  the  announcement 
that  you  will  no  longer  be  our  Secretary,  is  akin 
to  that  of  the  fledgling  cast  from  the  nest,  of  the  son 
that  went  out  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world. 
We  are  losing  our  father,  our  faithful  adviser." 


128        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 
And  again,  later,  Dr.  Moffett  wrote : — 

"  Whenever  we  are  being  especially  blessed  in 
our  work  here,  the  longing  to  share  with  you  the 
joy  of  this  service  comes  over  me;  for  I  always 
think  of  you  in  connection  with  the  inception  of 
the  work  in  Korea,  and  always  feel  that  your  foster- 
ing care  of  it,  your  interest  and  your  prayers,  have 
constituted  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  its  success. 
...  It  cannot  be  many  years  before  you  are 
called  to  your  reward  in  the  presence  of  the  Saviour, 
and  as  I  think  of  it,  one  of  the  thoup^hts  that  gives 
me  great  joy,  is  that  there  you  will  meet  with  some 
of  our  loved  Koreans,  and  that  there  they  will  come 
to  know  you,  and  their  great  debt  of  gratitude  to 
you  that  the  Gospel  was  brought  to  Korea.  I  love 
to  think  of  my  old  teacher  and  assistant,  Leader  Yi, 
and  you  meeting  up  there." 


XII— 1903-1905 

DEATH  OF  DAUGHTER — FOUNDING  OF  MANILA  TRAIN- 
ING SCHOOL PHYSICAL  INFIRMITY FAREWELL 

TO  OFFICE DIGNITY  AND  PATIENCE  UNDER  SUF- 
FERING 

HENCEFORWARD  the  shadows  gradually 
deepened  about  his  path.  In  the  late  sum- 
mer it  became  apparent  that  his  youngest 
daughter  was  seriously  ill,  and  on  October  5,  less 
than  ten  months  from  the  time  his  little  grandson 
was  taken,  he  stood  beside  her  deathbed.  There 
were  many  elements  of  pathos  in  this  sudden  close 
of  a  young  life.  She  was  a  gentle-voiced,  attract- 
ive girl;  unselfish,  conscientious,  and  of  unassum- 
ing Christian  character.  Her  last  illness  taught  a 
lesson  in  submissive  patience  and  thought  fulness  for 
others.  After  the  funeral  services  in  Cornwall,  the 
sorrowing  father,  accompanied  by  other  members 
of  the  family,  went  on  to  Rochester  for  the  inter- 
ment in  the  family  plot  at  Mount  Hope  cemetery. 

He  returned  home  much  exhausted,  and  this 
second  blow  made  itself  felt  in  an  added  tremulous- 
ness  of  nerves  and  body,  from  which  he  never  re- 
covered. But  the  capacity  and  will  for  work  were 
still  strong  in  him,  and  a  few  days  later  found  him 

129 


I30        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

back  at  his  office  desk,  where  he  remained  for  two 
more  winters.  Here,  though  reheved  of  executive 
correspondence,  he  still  wrote  to  the  dififerent  sta- 
tions, especially  urging  increased  efforts  along  the 
line  of  evangelistic  itineration.  He  took  part  in  all 
meetings  of  the  council,  and  in  the  Board  meetings, 
and  it  is  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Speer  and  Dr.  Halsey 
that  "  he  gave  much  time  to  the  raising  of  money 
to  pay  off  the  debt  on  the  Presbyterian  building." 
In  a  letter  from  the  latter,  dated  September  5, 
1905,  he  says  : — 

"  I  believe  that  your  work  has,  in  the  last  two 
or  three  years,  in  many  respects  been  more  potent  in 
advancing  the  interests  of  our  Board  than  in  all 
your  previous  years  of  service." 

As  a  memorial  of  his  daughter  Lou,  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  conceived  the  idea  of  founding  a  much  needed 
missionary  training  school  in  Manila,  using  as  a 
nucleus  for  this  fund  a  small  bank  balance  left  by 
her.  To  this,  different  members  of  the  family  con- 
tributed, and  from  this  small  beginning,  by  the 
generous  co-operation  of  many  friends  of  Missions, 
there  finally  grew  a  fund  sufficient  to  warrant  the 
erection  of  two  good-sized  buildings,  one  for  young 
native  women,  and  the  other  for  young  men.  Dur- 
ing the  months  when  this  money  was  being  raised, 
the  following  appeal,  written  by  Dr.  ElHnwood, 
was  sent  out  by  the  Women's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  of  Philadelphia: — 


MANILA  TRAINING  SCHOOL        131 

"  These  statements  in  regard  to  the  movement 
for  the  estabhshment  of  a  Christian  Training 
School  at  Manila  are  respectfully  submitted  to  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  enterprise : — 

First — As  to  the  situation  on  the  field,  the  deepest 
interest  is  expressed  by  different  members  of  the 
Mission  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  beginnings 
have  been  made  at  Manila,  Iloilo,  and  Cebu  in  the 
training  for  limited  periods  of  the  native  helpers 
scattered  through  the  villages  of  the  surrounding 
districts.  These  gatherings  though  continued  only 
for  two  or  three  weeks,  have  abundantly  vindicated 
the  wisdom  of  the  plan  of  short-cut  courses  of 
training  for  the  work  whose  claims  are  pressing 
hard  upon  the  Mission  at  all  points.  The  little  coun- 
try congregations  have  been  asked  to  send  their  most 
promising  candidates  for  instruction.  Thus  far, 
only  the  men  have  been  in  attendance,  but  they 
have  shown  quickness  of  mind,  enthusiastic  interest 
in  study,  and  in  every  way  unusual  capabilities  for 
the  work  for  which  they  are  supposed  to  be  trained. 

The  outline  of  study  has  been  limited  almost  en- 
tirely to  the  Bible,  and  the  methods  of  presenting 
the  truth.  As  the  work  goes  on,  wider  ranges  of 
knowledge  will  be  communicated.  The  work  has 
advanced  far  enough  already  to  show  its  immense 
possibilities,  and  it  is  the  deep  conviction  of  our 
missionaries  that  an  institution  should  at  once  be 
provided  at  the  Capital  in  which  selected  students 
may  enjoy  much  longer  periods  of  study,  and  a 
broader  range  of  instruction.  It  seems  probable 
that  for  some  time  to  come  the  students  will  be 


132         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

selected  from  among  those  adults  who  are  already 
employed  in  some  form  of  Christian  work.  The 
whole  movement  is  in  response  to  an  urgent  demand 
for  Christian  propagandism  in  the  outlying  villages 
to  be  commenced  at  once,  and  pursued  with  ever 
higher  and  better  preparation. 

The  work  for  women  will  follow  speedily,  for 
in  and  around  all  the  Mission  Stations  there  are 
boundless  opportunities  for  Bible  reading,  house- 
to-house  visitation,  visits  to  the  sick  and  suffering, 
and  for  the  Christian  instruction  of  young  girls, 
the  holding  of  prayer  meetings,  etc.  An  interesting 
letter  from  Mrs.  Rodgers  of  Manila  has  borne  wit- 
ness to  the  deep  interest  with  which  the  ladies  of 
the  Mission  look  upon  this  movement,  and  stating 
what  beginnings  have  been  made  in  a  limited  way 
in  this  kind  of  labour  among  women  of  Manila. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  Iloilo  and  Cebu." 
The  magazine  article  from  which  this  was  quoted 
goes  on  to  state  that  "  Since  the  above  was  written 
the  Board  has  decided  to  call  the  school  the  Ellin- 
wood  Training  School." 

In  June,  1905,  he  finally  took  the  step  which  was 
felt  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  end  when  he  said 
good-bye  to  his  office,  and  at  the  same  time  gave 
up  the  New  York  home.  From  early  manhood  it 
had  been  his  oft-repeated  wish  that  when  his  time 
came  he  might  die  in  the  harness.  That  especially  he 
might  be  spared  long  months  or  years  of  inaction. 
But  Providence  ordered  it  otherwise.  To  him  more 
than  to  most  men  it  had  been  given  to  see  the  fruit 


PATIENCE  UNDER  SUFFERING      133 

of  his  labours,  and  to  enjoy  the  praise  of  men;  but 
by  outliving  his  usefulness  he  was  led  to  attach 
little  importance  to  this;  while  the  long  years  of 
helplessness  chastened  his  naturally  ardent  and  ag- 
gressive spirit,  till  in  the  end  a  most  touching 
patience  and  humility  were  attained,  and  to  a  rare 
degree  he  dignified  the  infirmities  of  old  age.  Often 
the  only  sign  given  of  nervous  restlessness  or  weari- 
ness of  the  flesh  was  the  bowed  head  upon  the 
shaking  hand,  and  the  momentary  closing  of  the 
eyes  in  silent  prayer  for  help.  During  these  last 
years  when  his  voice  could  no  longer  be  raised  in 
family  worship,  great  comfort  was  found  in  a  little 
book  entitled,  *'  Ancient  and  Modern  Prayers,"  com- 
piled by  Mary  Wilder  Tileston.  Among  many  beau- 
tiful and  helpful  supplications  was  the  following  by 
Cardinal  Newman,  of  which  he  often  used  to  say, 
that  "  every  word  of  it  applied  to  himself." 

"  Oh,  my  Lord,  my  whole  life  has  been  a  course 
of  mercies  and  blessings,  shown  to  one  who  has  been 
most  unworthy  of  them.  Year  after  year  Thou  hast 
carried  me  on,  removed  dangers  from  my  path, 
refreshed  me,  borne  with  me,  directed  me,  sustained 
me.  O,  forsake  me  not  when  my  strength  faileth 
me.  And  Thou  wilt  never  forsake  me.  I  may 
securely  repose  upon  Thee.  While  I  am  true  to 
Thee,  Thou  wilt  still,  and  to  the  end,  be  superabun- 
dantly good  to  me.  I  may  rest  upon  Thy  arm;  I 
may  go  to  sleep  in  Thy  bosom.  Only  give  me,  and 
increase  in  me,  that  loyalty  to  Thee,  which  is  the 


134        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

bond  of  the  covenant  between  Thee  and  me,  and 
the  pledge  in  my  own  heart  and  conscience  that 
Thou,  the  Supreme  God,  wilt  not  forsake  me. 
Amen." 

Probably  his  greatest  happiness  during  these 
days,  consisted  in  listening  to  his  wife  as  she  read 
aloud.  Countless  books  were  thus  consumed — 
history,  biography,  books  of  travel,  missionary 
literature,  and  fiction.  During  early  and  middle 
life  he  had  been  too  busy,  and  his  reading  too  ex- 
clusively along  the  line  of  his  work,  to  admit  of 
much  novel  reading;  and,  indeed,  he  considered 
it  somewhat  of  a  waste  of  time;  but  this  opinion 
was  modified  in  later  life,  when  he  became  better 
acquainted  with  the  masters  of  fiction,  and  he 
brought  to  such  reading  the  unjaded  taste  and 
keen  interest  which  usually  only  youth  supplies. 

Music,  either  instrumental  or  vocal,  had  also  the 
power  to  soothe  and  rest  him,  and  his  favourite 
composers  were  Beethoven,  Wagner,  Schumann, 
Handel,  and  Mendelssohn.  Till  almost  the  end  his 
hearing  remained  unimpaired,  and  that  his  eye- 
sight continued  to  minister  to  his  pleasure  was  evi- 
denced in  his  daily  drives  among  the  Connecticut 
hills,  where  a  quiet  touch  would  draw  the  attention 
of  his  companion  to  some  widespread  panorama 
of  beauty,  to  a  new  effect  of  light  and  shadow  on 
a  mountain  side;  or  to  a  vivid  patch  in  the  autumn- 
tinted  landscape. 


w 


XIII — 1905- 1908 


LETTERS — WINTERS    IN    THE    SOUTH — RESIGNATION 
— LETTERS DEATH 


A 


MONG  the  many  letters  which  brightened  this 
summer  of  1905,  we  select  two  as  being  es- 
pecially comforting  and  beautiful : — 


*'  June  20. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood  : 

Official  congratulations  from  the  Board  can 
hardly  express  what  some  of  us  would  like  to  say 
to  you  on  your  birthday;  even  a  personal  letter  is 
inadequate. 

It  is  thirty-three  years  since  I  ventured  to  intro- 
duce myself  to  you  on  a  New  York  Central  train. 
Little  did  I  imagine  then  that  for  more  than  twenty 
years  I  should  have  the  privilege  of  association 
with  you  in  the  great  work  of  your  life.  My  affec- 
tion for  you,  and  my  sense  of  gratitude  have  grown 
with  each  passing  year,  and  I  don't  think  we  ever 
had  a  disagreement,  or  a  misunderstanding  even, 
unless  it  was  when  I  awkwardly  tried  to  lift  your 
burdens  from  your  shoulders,  and  possibly  gave  the 
impression  that  I  was  trying  to  lay  you  on  the  shelf. 
There  is  no  shelf  broad  enough  to  hold  you. 

Some  of  the  infirmities  of  age  have  come  to  you. 
135 


136        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

But  that  parable  about  the  express  company  horse 
— good  as  it  is — does  not  apply.  Your  legs  have 
been  somewhat  afflicted  by  '  the  pace  that  kills,'  but 
thank  God,  your  soul,  like  John  Brown's,  is 
*  marching  on.' 

But  I  only  started  to  say  that  we  love  you,  and 
hope  you  may  have  just  as  many  more  birthdays 
as  you  are  willing  to  spend  below,  and  then  the 
youth  eternal. 

Affectionately  yours, 

George  Alexander.^^ 

The  second  letter,  from  his  dear  friend,  Miss 
Ellen  Parsons,  is  given  only  in  part : — 

"  156  Fifth  Avenue,  Oct.  28,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

You  are  greatly  missed  here  this  fall.  There  is 
a  sort  of  loneliness  without  you :  in  fact  I  have 
felt  that  loneliness  for  many  months  past.  ...  I 
am  distressed  to  hear  that  your  infirmities  increase 
upon  you.  They  are  all  battle  scars !  When  I  con- 
sider, for  a  moment,  how  you  laboured  without 
grudging,  and  without  sparing  yourself,  through 
the  long  years,  in  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions — when  I  think  of  the  thousand  times  you 
stuffed  that  gripsack,  dictating  to  the  stenographer 
on  important  affairs  until  the  last  item  was  pushed 
into  the  bag,  and  your  hand  was  on  the  doorknob, 
and  how  you  flew  from  Synod  to  Synod,  and  Pres- 
bytery to  Presbytery,  convincing  and  persuading 
men  that  their  parish  is  the  world,   I  look  upon 


WINTERS  IN  THE  SOUTH  137 

every  physical  infirmity  of  yours  as  a  medal  worn 
on  the  veteran's  breast:  .  .  .  You  can  afford  to 
sit  still  in  your  chair  now,  up  at  your  beloved  Corn- 
wall home,  and  enjoy  the  reflection  that  no  man 
more  than  yourself  has  seen  the  result  and  crowning 
of  his  labours  with  the  Board.  ...  As  for  what 
you  have  wrought, — a  revolution — for  the  women 
to  have  opportunity  for  active  service,  I  never 
expect  to  see  your  lineal  successor.  They  may  try 
to  wear  your  mantle,  but  it  will  be  manifestly  a  case 
of  Saul's  armour." 

The  last  three  winters  of  Dr.  Ellinwood's  life 
were  spent  in  different  parts  of  the  South,  where 
he  delighted  in  the  balmy  climate,  and  found 
pleasure  in  every  novel  phase  of  his  surroundings — 
in  the  long-needled  pines  and  moss-hung  oaks;  in 
the  scent  of  the  jessamine,  and  the  "light-wood" 
fires;  in  the  flight  of  the  buzzard,  in  the  typical 
Southern  dishes,  and  the  more  comical  aspects 
of  negro  life  and  character.  He  also  took  great 
pleasure  in  renewing  some  old  friendships,  and 
forming  new  ones  among  the  genial  people  of  that 
section.  In  February,  1906,  he  wrote  from  Au- 
gusta, Ga.,  to  Mrs.  Halsey  Wood: — 

"  After  spending  two  months  at  Milton,  N.  C, 
which  was  a  flourishing  little  commercial  town 
'  befo'  the  wah,'  but  is  now  suffering  from  the 
encroachments  of  the  tobacco  trust,  we  came  on 
to  Charleston,  where  we  found  a  boarding  place 


138         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

beautiful  for  situation,  but  smitten,  alas!  with 
typhoid — fifteen  cases — so  that  we  had  no  alter- 
native but  to  flee.  We  came  on  to  Augusta  in  about 
as  much  uncertainty  as  Abraham  felt  on  leaving 
Paran.  We  can  truly  say,  however,  that  this 
Canaan  is  delightful.  We  are  among  the  Pines, 
on  the  Sand  Hills,  a  suburb  of  the  city,  and  are  en- 
joying an  almost  perfect  climate.  Violets  by  the 
thousand,  with  crocuses,  daffodils,  etc.,  bespangle 
the  borders,  and  peach  and  plum  trees  vie  with 
each  other  in  displaying  their  spring  adornments. 
...  Of  the  various  choirs  and  choruses  the 
mocking  bird  is  the  prima  donna.  We  are  occupy- 
ing a  dainty  little  cottage,  and,  on  the  whole,  have 
been  mercifully  cared  for." 

The  following  is  to  his  dear  old  friend,  the  pas- 
tor of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Milton: — 

"  The  Hill,  Augusta,  Ga.,  March  3,  1906. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Harding  : 

Your  beautiful  letter  gave  me  very  great  pleasure. 
One  would  think  from  your  references  to  the  so- 
called  hamlet  of  Milton,  that  you  were  a  good  deal 
of  a  hermit,  but  really  you  have  about  as  populous 
a  fellowship  as  any  man  of  my  acquaintance.  Men 
in  the  highest  and  broadest  sense  cannot  be  de- 
scribed or  contemplated  in  the  terms  of  time  and 
space.  According  to  Madame  Blavatsky  we  have 
astral  bodies  of  tenuous  and  invisible  texture, 
capable  of  cognizing  the  past  as  well  as  the  present, 
and  including  all  lands,  with  their  successive  gen- 
erations of  mankind.     It  is  on  this  principle  that 


LETTERS  139 

you  talk  with  Horace  as  if  he  were  your  next  door 
neighbour,  and  you  say  '  good  morning  '  to  Mat- 
thew Arnold,  or  Carlyle,  as  if  they  were  just  over 
the  way,  so  to  speak.  My  old  Greek  professor  at 
Hamilton  College  gave  as  his  reason  for  not  visit- 
ing Greece,  that  he  did  not  want  to  waste  the  time 
necessary  for  studying  Greek  History  and  Litera- 
ture in  his  library.  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  of  Prince- 
ton told  a  student  of  my  class,  who  asked  his  ad- 
vice about  spending  a  year  or  two  in  Germany,  that 
*  if  he  wanted  to  visit  Germany  as  a  country,  to  go 
by  all  means;  but  if  he  wished  to  study  theology, 
he  could  do  about  the  same  amount  of  work  in 
a  room  twelve  feet  square,  on  either  side  of  the 
Atlantic' 

A  man  who  has  books  and  loves  to  commune 
with  them,  need  not  envy  the  distracted  city  pastor 
who  is  rushed  and  whirled  about  by  conflicting  calls 
and  cares;  and  by  pressing  throngs  of  people. 

Very  pleasant  are  my  remembrances  of  Milton 
and  its  people,  not  to  specialize  the  beloved  '  Pope  ' 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  And  never  have  we 
as  a  family  met  with  greater  kindness,  li  Milton 
as  a  town  is  by-gone,  so  am  I,  and  there  is  this 
difference,  that  whereas  the  village  and  surrounding 
country  will  soon  renew  their  youth,  and  put 
on  fresh  beauty,  and  call  back  the  song  of  birds 
and  humming  of  bees;  /  can  expect  no  more 
leaves,  much  less  fragrant  blossoms.  I  can  only 
shamble  on  down  the  hill,  toward  the  setting 
sun.  How  important  in  old  age,  is  the  ques- 
tion of  immortality.    It  then  becomes  the  All.    But 


140         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

do  not  get  the  impression  that  I  am  gloomy,  the 
strength  of  four-score  years  is  not  all  '  labour  and 
sorrow ! '    .    .    . 

It  is  Sunday  and  I  have  been  reading  a  sermon 
of  Phillips  Brooks  on  *  Keeping  the  Faith.'  He 
seems  to  take  little  account  of  traditional  faith,  or 
an  intellectual  belief  in  venerable  testimony,  but 
places  great  emphasis  on  personal  experience. 
Now,  I  am  so  constituted  that  I  have  learned  to 
look  upon  personal  professions  of  inward  light  with 
a  great  deal  of  distrust.  Many  of  the  most  volatile 
and  airblown  professors  that  I  have  known,  prove 
most  unreliable — '  let  him  that  thinketh  he  stand- 
eth,  take  heed  lest  he  fall.'  Amid  many  changes 
and  cross-currents  that  now  sweep  the  world  of  re- 
ligious thought,  my  faith  is  largely  a  matter  of 
will;  I  am  resolved  to  hold  on  to  the  best.  One 
thing  that  I  am  sure  of  is  that  there  is  no  other 
safe  trust.  Between  the  merit  and  demerit  of  my 
past  life,  the  latter  tips  the  scale  against  me.  Any 
analysis  which  I  might  make  of  my  past  experiences 
would  probably  prove  incorrect.  I  often  distrust 
even  my  peace  of  mind,  lest  it  may  be  a  species  of 
spiritual  coma.  My  belief  in  immortality  rests 
almost  wholly  on  the  testimony  of  Christ  who  died 
and  rose  again.  Professor  Osier  says  that  science 
is  silent  on  the  subject,  but  I  hold  on,  resting  wholly 
in  Christ. 

With  best  love  to  your  family  in  which  Mrs. 
Ellinwood  joins. 

Your  friend  and  Brother, 

F.  F.  Ellinwood." 


RESIGNATION  141 

Three  months  later  Dr.  Ellinwood  sent  to  the 
Board  the  following  letter : — 

"'  To  the  President  and  Members  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
U.  S.  A.: 

Dear  Brethren  : 

I  have  a  deepening  conviction  that  on  account  of 
great  and  increasing  bodily  infirmity,  I  ought  to 
resign  my  position  as  Secretary  of  the  Foreign  Mis- 
sions Board.  Accordingly  I  hereby  tender  my  resig- 
nation, to  take  effect  at  the  date  of  its  acceptance. 

I  entered  the  service  of  the  Board  soon  after 
the  reunion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  having 
previously  served  four  years  as  Secretary  of  the 
New  School  Board  of  Church  Erection;  and  one 
year  as  Secretary  of  the  Memorial  Committee  of 
the  United  Assembly. 

In  the  Providence  of  God  I  have  survived  all 
the  members  of  the  Board  as  constituted  at  the 
time  of  my  appointment.  In  the  same  period  of 
thirty-five  years,  four  Secretaries  have  gone  to 
their  rest.  The  thought  which  deeply  impresses 
itself  on  me,  is  that  while  individual  men  grow  old 
and  enfeebled,  and  pass  away,  the  Board  lives  on, 
and  becomes  ever  more  vigorous  and  effective.  This 
fact  inspires  and  assures  an  abiding  confidence  in 
the  progress  and  triumph  of  the  great  cause  which 
is  not  human  but  divine. 

In  resigning  my  position,  I  wish  to  express  my 
heartfelt  gratitude  for  the  uniform  kindness  and 
forbearance  which  the  Board  has  ever  shown  to- 


142         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

wards   me;    and    its   tender    consideration    for  the 
feebleness  of  my  declining  strength. 

Frank  Field  Ellinwood." 

A  day  or  two  later  brought  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Speer  beginning  thus : — 

"  June  6,  1906. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  on 
Monday  and  Dr.  Alexander  read  your  letter  of 
resignation,  and  also  your  personal  letter  to  him. 
I  need  not  say  that  your  letter  aroused  the  deepest 
interest.  It  was  at  first  moved  that  the  resignation 
be  unequivocally  declined.  The  annual  election  had 
been  held  early  in  the  meeting  and  you  had  been  re- 
elected Secretary.  Reference  was  made  to  this  fact, 
and  to  the  feeling  on  the  part  of  all  who  spoke 
that  this  relationship  should  be  continued.  In  order 
that  there  might  not  be  any  hasty  action,  however, 
and  that  just  that  might  be  done,  which  would  com- 
mend itself  to  your  judgment,  the  matter  was  re- 
ferred to  a  special  committee,  consisting  of  Dr. 
Alexander,  Dr.  Richards,  and  Mr.  James."   .    .    . 

In  final  reference  to  this  matter  we  quote  from 
the  minutes  of  the  Board,  a  copy  of  which  was  sent 
him  the  following  year,  shortly  after  the  action 
which  it  records : — 

"  The  Board  having  twice  postponed  considera- 
tion of  the  resignation  tendered  by  Secretary  F.  F. 
Ellinwood,  D.D.,  bearing  date  June  4,  1906,— but 


RESIGNATION  143 

having  on  March  18,  1907,  elected  Rev.  Stanley 
White  to  succeed  him  September  i,  1907,  it  was 
voted  that  Dr.  Ellinwood  be  now  elected  Secretary 
Emeritus,  with  the  understanding  that  his  salary 
will  be  continued  until  his  successor  shall  assume 
office."   ... 

In  taking  this  action  they  desired  to  place  on  record  and 
to  express  to  Dr.  Ellinwood  their  sense  of  the  inestimable 
service  which  he  had  rendered  to  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  to  the  work  of  the  world's  evangelization ;  to  assure  him 
that  his  enforced  withdrawal  from  active  service  has  not  im- 
paired the  love  and  honour  in  which  he  is  held  by  those  who 
are  trying  to  build  upon  his  foundations ;  and  to  remind  him 
once  more  that  "  in  all  his  afflictions  we  are  afflicted." 

Of  many  beautiful  letters  received  by  him  on 
June  20,  1906,  only  one  remains  to  commemorate 
the  day,  the  package  containing  the  others  being 
unfortunately  lost : — 

"  My  Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood  : 

May  I  send  you  just  a  word  of  greeting  on  your 
eightieth  birthday?  If  you  knew  the  inspiration 
that  your  wonderfully  strong  letters  of  faith  and 
resignation  have  been  to  those  of  us  on  the  Board, 
you  would  never  say  even  in  your  great  weakness, 
that  your  work  was  done. 

I  can  only  pray  that  this  may  bring  comfort  to 
you,  and  that  it  may  rest  your  heart  to  know  that 
some  of  the  younger  men  have  pledged  themselves 
to  greater  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Missions,  in 
order  that  your  labour  and  your  ideals  may  be  car- 


144         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

ried  out.     May  the  peace,  and  calm  of  faith  abide 
with  you  continually. 

Affectionately  yours, 

Stanley  White." 

In  the  autumn  of  1907  the  family  went  to  Char- 
lotte, N.  C,  where  the  winter  was  spent  in  a  particu- 
larly attractive  environment;  and  here  one  Sunday 
afternoon  in  the  new  year  was  witnessed  a  brief 
but  solemn  service,  when  the  pastor  and  elders  of 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church  kindly  came  to  the 
house,  and  the  veteran  pilgrim — so  near  his  goal — 
partook  for  the  last  time  of  the  communion. 

In  the  meantime  bodily  weakness  was  steadily 
increasing,  bringing  with  it  occasional  but  inevitable 
hours  of  depression.  It  can,  therefore,  be  under- 
stood how  comforting  were  letters  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing : — 

"  February  17,  1908. 
Dear  Dr.  Ellinwood: 

Many  kind  thoughts  were  expressed  as  to  you 
during  the  recent  Missionary  Conference  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  our  Committee  on  Resolutions  had  the 
delightful  privilege  of  sending  you  the  message  of 
the  love  of  the  Conference  by  wire.  It  is  in  my 
heart,  however,  as  the  Chairman  of  that  Commit- 
tee, as  well  as  personally,  to  tell  you  how  earnestly 
we  believe  that  much  of  the  progress  now  being 
made  in  the  East  in  the  advancement  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  is  due  to  the  faith,  wisdom  and  energy 
of  your  own  strong  self,  as  you  have  been  led  by 


LETTERS  145 

the  Holy  Spirit  in  years  gone  by.  Surely  the 
Church  has  no  more  blessed  heritage  than  the  love 
and  faithfulness  of  our  leaders,  and  your  life  has 
touched  so  many  hundreds  whom,  like  myself,  you 
may  not  know  personally,  but  whom  you  have 
strengthened  and  instructed  by  word  and  pen,  and 
more  than  all  by  the  statesmanlike  policy  and  world- 
wide vision  which  you  have  advocated  and  revealed. 
We  hope  that  benefit  and  comfort  are  coming  to 
you  from  your  stay  in  the  South,  and  long  to  have 
you  know  how  deeply  we  value  your  life,  leadership, 
wisdom  and  prayer. 

Faithfully  and  affectionately, 

John  Timothy  Stone." 

A  few  weeks  later  the  following  letter  was  dic- 
tated : 

"  Charlotte,  N.  C. 
My  dear  Mr.  White: 

I  have  too  long  deferred  acknowledging  your  two  good 
letters.  I  have  been  perplexed  in  deciding  what  to  say  to 
your  request  that  I  would  suggest  some  thought  or  inspiration 
to  supplement  your  address  to  the  General  Assembly.  From 
the  standpoint  of  my  own  estimate  of  my  abilities,  even  when 
at  the  best,  the  idea  seems  preposterous,  but  in  my  present 
condition,  I  must  decide  that  it  is  impossible.  My  mind  is 
fast  becoming  an  empty  void.  I  consciously  fail  from  month 
to  month.  I  can  receive  and  appreciate  the  thoughts  of 
others,  but  I  have  no  initiative. 

In  a  new  sense  the  problems  of  Missions  are  world  prob- 
lems ;  all  the  great  nations  and  races  in  these  coming  decades 
will  have  a  part  to  act.  All  types  of  civilization  and  religion 
will  contend  together  for  supremacy.  The  navies  of  all  the 
great  nations  will  be  increased  in  power  and  destructiveness. 
Whether  '  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men '  shall  be  pro- 


146         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

moted  by  this  braced  and  menacing  deadlock  is  a  grave  ques- 
tion. The  leading  thought  seems  to  be,  that  the  drift  and 
supremacy  of  trade  will  control  the  situation.  A  very  large 
place  is  assigned  to  education  also,  and  science  in  all  forms 
is  urged  by  all  Agnostic  educators,  as  the  hope  of  the  world. 
Japan  and  China  are  opening  their  hands  to  receive  educa- 
tion and  practical  arts  without  accompanying  Christianity. 
They  will  not  only  build  warships,  but  will  in  time  build 
mercantile  shipping  which  in  its  cost,  and  operating  expense, 
will  defy  the  competition  of  Western  nations,  and  will  control 
the  trade  of  the  great  Pacific. 

The  labour  unions  in  their  determination  to  maintain  and 
raise  the  price  of  labour,  cannot  control  the  mechanics  of  the 
Orient,  they  can  only  weaken  the  resources  of  the  competing 
West.  Such  is  the  present  drift.  Civilization  with  no  spiritual 
element  may  prove  even  detrimental,  may  only  set  the  nations 
by  the  cars.  The  one  only  hope  of  the  world  is  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  with  its  moral  and  uplifting  power.  The  best  minds 
in  India  and  Japan  admit  the  salutary  and  purifying  influ- 
ence of  Christian  faith  upon  their  people.  More  and  more 
of  this  then !  So  plain  a  path  of  duty  was  never  before  opened 
to  the  Christian  Church.  Korea  furnishes  an  object  lesson  of 
comparative  results  as  between  ambitious  Japan  and  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  and  now  is  the  time  for  you  leaders. 

I  wish  you  could  give  me  a  call  this  morning,  and  hear  the 
mocking-birds  and  delight  your  eyes  with  the  beautiful  blos- 
soms of  the  peach,  the  plum,  and  the  pear. 

Affectionately  yours, 

F.  F.  Ellinwood. 
March  21,  1908." 

In  reference  to  the  foregoing,  Dr.  White 
wrote : — 

"  After  a  long  search  I  have  found  a  letter  from 
your  father  which  is  very  precious  to  me  as  the 
inheritor  of  his  office.    .    .    . 


LETTERS  147 

I  wish  I  could  convey  to  you  something  of  the 
feehng  of  affection  that  there  is  in  the  Church  at 
large  for  your  father.  Everywhere  I  go.  East  or 
West,  expression  is  given  to  this  thought.  Only 
last  night,  at  my  table,  was  a  lady  formerly  from 
Pittsburgh  in  whose  house  your  father  had  often 
visited.  Her  testimony  to  his  life  and  influence 
would  have  gladdened  your  heart.  The  beautiful 
thing  about  such  a  life  is  that  it  is  only  the  visible 
presence  which  we  lose  here  on  earth,  the  influence 
goes  on. 

Very  cordially  yours, 

Stanley  White.'* 

The  final  intelligence  from  the  far  East  which 
reached  him  came  in  midsummer  in  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Halsey,  and  it  concerned,  most  appropriately,  the 
two  "  latest  born  in  his  mission  family  " — to  quote 
Mr.  Wright  of  Manila  :— 

"  Things  are  moving  on  the  Mission  field.  I 
have  just  received  a  letter  from  Korea,  from  Mr. 
Swallen.  .  .  ,  The  work  that  he  describes,  and 
the  wonderful  progress  he  shows  in  his  field  would 
be  marvellous  had  we  not  become  hardened  to  it. 
Korea  is  a  marvel;  there  seems  to  be  no  diminishing, 
either  in  the  number  of  converts,  in  the  deep  interest 
manifested  by  the  Christians  in  their  work,  in  the 
evangelistic  fervour,  and  in  the  splendid  consecration 
of  time  and  money  on  the  part  of  these  followers 
of  Jesus  Christ.  The  strict  Government  of  the 
Japanese,  not  to  say  much  oppression,  has  rather 


148         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

developed  robust  and  virile  qualities  in  the  Koreans 
than  otherwise.  It  is  the  old  story.  The  pressure 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  seems  to  have  devel- 
oped a  finer  quality  of  Christians. 

The  Philippine  Mission  is  also  bounding  aloft. 
The  interesting  fact  there,  as  brought  out  in  the  An- 
nual Report,  is  the  development  of  the  evangelistic 
spirit  of  the  native  Church.  They  too  are  doing 
wonders." 

In  August  a  memorable  letter  was  dictated, 
— his  last — and  as  no  other  words  can  so  fittingly 
close  this  chapter,  we  quote,  with  Mr.  Speer's  per- 
mission, his  concluding  paragraph  in  an  article  pub- 
lished in  October  of  that  year  in  the  Missionary 
Review  of  the  World. 

The  letter  follows : — 

"August  13. 
My  Dear  Mr.  Speer: 

You  are  a  saint  to  keep  on  writing  occasionally — 
and  very  profitably — in  spite  of  the  laxity  of  my  re- 
sponses. It  may  help  your  patience  to  know  that  I 
am  dictating  this  in  whispers — My  voice  comes  and 
goes  and  my  articulation  is  clumsy. 

Your  letter  is  a  sort  of  search-light,  bringing  out 
salient  points  here  and  there  all  round  the  missionary 
horizon.  ...  I  am  glad  you  are  writing  up  some 
of  our  best  biographies.  Men  like  Dr.  Cochran 
must  not  die  into  silence.    .    .    . 

About  myself  there  is  not  much  to  be  said.  I 
am  as  inactive  as  a  clam,  though  I  am  persuaded 


LETTER  ON  IMMORTALITY         149 

there  is  something  within  that  the  clam  has  not.  I 
have  thought  much  lately  of  consciousness  as  an 
abiding  proof  of  immortality.  I  remember  things 
which  occurred  when  I  was  two  years  old,  so  that 
I  have  the  memories  of  four-score  years  as  a  posses- 
sion. What  is  this  strange  power  of  memory  ?  Evi- 
dently it  is  spiritual  and  not  material.  Visible  and 
tangible  objects  have  passed  away,  the  substance  of 
my  body,  even  of  my  brain,  have  changed  many 
times,  and  yet  I  am  conscious  of  a  continuity  of 
thought,  affection,  and  experience.  It  is  unthink- 
able that  this  stored  up  life  of  eighty  years  should 
inhere  in  this  wretched  clod  which  is  still  visible, 
and  it  is  equally  impossible  that  it  should  pass 
away  with  the  collapse  of  some  organ  which 
must  soon  occur.  Even  the  doctrine  of  evo- 
lution calls  for  some  worthy  continuation  and 
advance. 

Professor  Olsen  tells  us  that  it  is  not  the  indi- 
vidual, but  the  type,  that  is  immortal;  and  George 
Eliot  assures  us  that  our  immortality  is  simply  the 
modicum  of  good  influences  which  we  bequeath 
to  unborn  generations.  Against  all  this  my  memory 
and  my  immaterial  consciousness  protest.  It  makes 
the  trivial  inheritance  tax  more  important  than  the 
estate  or  the  testator.  A  Western  College  professor 
once  defined  Transcendentalism  as  being  like  a  bank 
of  swallow  holes,  which,  being  washed  away,  should 
leave  the  holes  still  remaining. 

I  have  a  better  grip  than  that  upon  the  personal 
life  of  eighty  years.  I  should  be  afraid  of  the  influ- 
ence of  it  upon  my  destiny  but  for  the  grace  of 


I50         FRANK  FIELD  ELLIN  WOOD 

life  in  Jesus  Christ.    I  am  conscious  that  this  hand- 
ful of  bones  will  not  be  the  last  of  me. 

"  On  September  30,  he  passed  forward  into  the 
certainties  of  the  life  everlasting,  and  we  may  be 
sure  his  tireless  and  far-ranging  spirit  is  busy  now 
in  the  work  of  Christ  in  the  Kingdom  of  his 
Father." 


XIV    . 

FUNERAL  SERVICES  IN   CORNWALL^  NEW  YORK,   AND 
ROCHESTER 

ON  the  day  following  Thursday,  October  i, 
a  brief  funeral  service  was  held  in  Corn- 
wall, conducted  by  the  Rev.  Edward  C. 
Starr.  The  main  service  took  place  on  Friday  in 
New  York,  while  the  interment  was  in  the  beautiful 
Mount  Hope  Cemetery  at  Rochester.  There  the 
ceremony  of  commitment  was  preceded  by  a  short 
service  in  the  Cemetery  Chapel,  led  by  Dr.  Stebbins, 
and  attended  not  only  by  a  touching  gathering  of  the 
surviving  members  of  Dr.  Ellinwood's  early  congre- 
gation in  the  Central  Church,  but  also  by  relatives 
from  adjacent  towns.  At  the  side  of  his  grave  stood 
three  tall  brothers,  *  while  the  only  remaining  sister 
lay  ill  many  miles  away.  Within  a  brief  score  of 
months,  all  four  had  joined  him  on  the  other 
side. 

*  All  three  were  men  of  stainless  Christian  life  and  char- 
acter; and  at  the  death  of  one  of  them,  Dr.  Albert  G.  Ellin- 
wood,  for  over  fifty  years  a  physician  in  Attica,  N.  Y.,  and 
surgeon  for  the  Erie  Railroad,  the  respect  and  affection  for 
his  memory  were  such  that,  during  the  hours  of  his  funeral 
and  burial,  all  places  of  business  were  closed. 

151 


152         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

The  following  is  from  an  obituary  article  by  Dr. 
John  Bancroft  Devins,  in  the  New  York  Ob- 
server:— 

"  THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY  LEADER  PASSES  AWAY. 

The  Reverend  Frank  Field  Ellinwood,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Secretary  Emeritus  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  died  at  Corn- 
wall, Conn.,  on  September  30.  The  funeral  was 
held  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  George  Woolsey,  one  of 
his  daughters,  on  Friday  afternoon,  and  the  burial 
was  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  on  Saturday.   .    .    . 

Dr.  George  Alexander,  president  of  the  Board, 
had  charge  of  the  services,  and  the  quartette  of  the 
University  Place  Church  sang  '  Sun  of  my  Soul,' 
and  '  Hark,  hark,  my  soul.'  Robert  E.  Speer 
and  Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown,  Secretaries  of  the  Foreign 
Board,  took  part,  Mr.  Speer  delivering  a  just  tribute 
to  their  associate,  and  Dr.  Brown  offering  'a  prayer 
of  consolation  and  triumph.  ...  In  Mr.  Speer's 
tribute  of  love,  the  salient  features  of  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood's  beautiful  life  are  sketched  by  a  master  hand." 

The  following  is  his  address  in  full : — 

"  It  is  inevitable  as  we  gather  here  to-day,  that 
our  hearts  should  feel  the  burden  of  their  sorrow 
and  grief.  It  cannot  be  wrong  that  they  should  do 
so.  Our  Lord  Himself  knew  grief  and  sorrow,  and 
it  must  be  of  His  spirit  that  our  hearts  in  this  hour 
feel  so  keenly  the  sense  of  their  bereavement  and 
loss.  And  yet  we  should  be  very  unfaithful  to  the 
memories  of  the  great  life  which  has  entered  now 


MR.  SPEER'S  ADDRESS  153 

upon  its  grander  career,  if  our  grief  were  not  up- 
lifted and  transfigured  by  a  great  peace.  We  could 
not  wish  our  friend,  however  deep  our  love  for 
him  has  been  and  is,  to  be  called  back  from  the 
joys  and  glories  that  have  come  to  him.  We  know 
how  for  many  months,  even  years,  his  spirit  has 
striven  against  the  limitations  that  have  shut  it  in 
here,  and  longed  to  pass  onward  into  the  infinite 
liberties  of  God.  And  we  could  not  wish  him  to 
return  now  from  the  beauty  of  that  city,  where  the 
servants  of  the  King  look  ever  upon  the  King's  face 
as  they  do  Him  service.  We  can  only  be  glad  that 
at  last  that  has  come  to  him  for  which  he  so  deeply 
longed,  and  that  with  larger  capacities,  and  freed 
from  the  limitations  and  restraints  of  earth,  his  great 
spirit  has  soared  out  into  the  eternal  ministries  of 
the  kingdom  of  the  Father. 

It  is  not  only  for  the  love  that  we  bore  him 
that  we  can  rejoice  to-day  in  that  which  has  come 
to  him,  but  it  is  right  for  us  to  be  both  thankful 
and  glad,  as  we  gather  here,  because  of  the  rich 
inheritance  which  we  are  conscious  he  has  left  with 
us,  and  of  the  memories  that  come  flooding  back 
over  our  hearts  in  this  hour  from  the  years  in  the 
past,  sweetened  and  enriched  by  our  fellowship  with 
him  in  the  service  of  our  common  Saviour.  We 
recall  to-day  and  rejoice  in  the  lessons  that  we 
have  learned  from  him. 

We  thank  God  for  the  lesson  which  his  life 
taught  us,  of  the  richness  and  glorious  range  of  the 
service  of  Christ,  and  of  the  possibility  of  a  soul's 
complete  fidelity  in  many  and  great  and  diverse 


154         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

responsibilities.  Ever  since,  more  than  a  genera- 
tion ago,  Dr.  Ellinwood  became  associated  with  the 
more  pubHc  activities  of  the  Church,  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  great  and  far-reaching  interests 
of  Christ's  kingdom. 

Beginning  his  public  work  in  connection  with 
our  Board  of  Church  Erection,  and  the  Reunion 
Fund,  and  then  later  with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, he  never  subsided  into  any  perfunctory  or  pro- 
fessional performance  of  duty,  but  his  great  heart 
reached  out  to  lay  hold  of  every  possibility  of  service 
which  might  be  open  to  him.  For  years  he  was  the 
acknowledged  leader  in  the  missionary  interests  of 
the  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Alliance.  It  was 
he  who  conceived  the  possibility  of  gathering  to- 
gether the  representatives  of  all  our  missionary  so- 
cieties in  annual  conference  over  their  common 
interests,  and  who  prepared  for  the  first  of  those 
gatherings.  He  was  a  leading  spirit  in  each  of  the 
two  world's  missionary  conferences,  in  London  and 
New  York,  and  the  thought  must  have  come  sor- 
rowfully home  to  many  of  us,  day  before  yesterday, 
of  how  much  we  had  lost,  when  the  tidings  of  his 
death  were  brought  to  us,  as  we  sat  planning  for 
the  world's  next  missionary  conference,  and  remem- 
bered what  he  had  planned  and  carried  through  in 
connection  with  these  conferences  years  ago. 

No  interest  with  which  he  had  ever  been  identi- 
fied failed  to  be  enriched  by  the  service  which  he 
rendered  it.  He  carried  to  the  last  an  affectionate 
interest  in  his  alma  mater,  Hamilton  College.  Some 
of  us  here  to-day  know  with  what  wisdom  and  devo- 


MR.  SPEER'S  ADDRESS  155 

tion  and  rich  practical  judgment  he  served  for 
many  years  as  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  Sanitarium  at  Chfton  Springs.  For  more 
than  ten  years  he  was  professor  in  the  University  of 
the  City  of  New  York,  as  well  as  secretary  of  the 
Foreign  Board.  To  him  more  than  to  any  other 
one  man,  save  Dr.  John  G.  Paton,  was  due  the  action 
of  our  government  in  defending  the  poor  savages 
of  the  South  Seas  against  the  importation  of  noxious 
things  from  Christian  lands.  And  he  led  the  mis- 
sionary forces  of  the  country  in  the  effort  to  miti- 
gate the  severity  of  our  legislation  against  the 
Chinese. 

These  are  only  a  few  of  the  many  great  services 
he  rendered,  which  come  back  to  our  memories,  as 
we  sit  here  to-day,  and  think  of  all  that  this  life  has 
meant  to  the  Church  of  Christ;  and  he  rendered  to 
each  of  these  great  trusts  the  most  faithful,  the 
most  loving,  the  most  energetic  service.  His  work 
was  never  diffuse  or  indefinite.  It  was  precise,  di- 
rect, efiicient  in  practical  result.  We  thank  God  to- 
day as  we  look  back  at  the  object  lesson  which  his 
life  presents  of  the  richness  of  the  service  of  God, 
and  the  power  of  God's  grace  to  enable  the  true- 
hearted,  simple,  faithful  soul  to  be  loyal  to  all  its 
trusts. 

And  we  recall  to-day  and  rejoice  in,  the  fertility 
and  originating  courage  of  the  great  spirit  that  has 
gone.  He  told  us  once  in  one  of  our  noon-day 
prayer-meetings  of  an  experience  in  his  earlier  years 
in  Rochester,  when  he  laid  aside  whatever  fear  of 
the  freedom  of  God  he  might  have  had,  and  yielded 


156        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

himself  up  to  a  serene  trust  in  the  onward  leadings 
of  the  divine  Spirit.  From  that  day  he  never  shrank 
from  any  of  the  callings  of  God  to  larger  under- 
takings, new  undertakings,  and  the  great  ventures 
of  faith.  As  much  as  any  one  man  it  was  he  who 
created  the  new  missionary  literature  of  our  day, 
both  the  new  appeal  to  Christians  at  home,  and  the 
new  discussion  of  the  problems  of  missions  abroad. 
He  was  the  great  leader  of  the  thoughts  of 
Christians  in  this  land  to  a  new  study  of  the 
religions  of  the  non-Christian  peoples,  and  to 
a  surer  missionary  apologetic.  Some  feared 
the  effects  of  such  study.  He  had  no  fear  of  the 
truth.  He,  more  than  any  other  one  man,  saw  the 
great  possibilities  in  the  unused  forces  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  in  this  land,  and  in  our  church  planned 
for  and  advanced  the  organizations  of  the  women 
and  the  young  people  and  the  students.  Christ  lived 
in  his  church,  to  Dr.  Ellinwood's  faith,  and  he  wel- 
comed the  ever  new  outputtings  of  that  divine  life. 
We  rejoice  as  our  memories  turn  backward  over  the 
noble  lesson  which  his  life  presents  to  us  of  the  fear- 
less follov/ings  of  the  leadings  of  God. 

Even  more  than  any  of  his  great  services,  of 
which  these  are  only  fragmentary  suggestions,  we 
rejoice  as  we  recall  the  memory  of  what  he  was  to 
those  of  us  who  knew  and  loved  him.  We  feel  still, 
and  shall  feel  all  our  days,  the  stimulus  of  that 
great  mind  with  its  out-reaching  visions.  His  mind 
and  heart  were  far  rangers.  Nothing  that  affected 
human-kind  anywhere  was  strange  to  his  interest. 
The  spirit  which  in  latter  days  chafed  against  its 


MR.  SPEER'S  ADDRESS  157 

limitations  had  always  looked  afar,  and  as  years 
passed  by  all  of  us  who  knew  him  watched  with 
awe  that  eagle  soul  soaring  higher  and  higher  in 
its  great  free  confidence  in  God,  seeing  in  all  the 
tangle  of  human  strife  and  passion  the  lives  of 
God's  sovereign  will,  and  gazing  off  into  the  vast 
purposes  of  eternity.  We  rejoice  to  recall  his 
strategist  imagination — that  gift  of  God  which 
enabled  him  to  see  where  in  the  world  the  call  of 
God  was  loudest  and  the  hope  of  the  gathering  in 
of  Christ's  harvest  richest  and  most  abundant,  where 
in  the  great  conflict  the  heaviest  blow  should  be 
struck.  He  was  the  father  of  the  most  fruitful  mis- 
sions of  our  church,  and  in  scarcely  a  land  in  the 
world  where  the  representatives  of  our  church  have 
gone  preaching  Christ,  does  there  lack  a  monument 
to  his  far-reaching  faith  and  vision. 

We  remember  his  calm,  unperturbed  judgment, 
resting  securely  on  great  and  thoroughly  wrought 
convictions,  undeflected  by  small  prejudice  or  the 
accidents  of  the  passing  hour,  and  his  temperate  con- 
siderateness  of  younger  men  who  were  not  as  wise 
as  he,  his  fearless  courage  of  opinion,  his  patience 
and  tenacity  of  purpose  and  view,  and,  I  think,  above 
all  else,  that  wonderful  balance  of  mind  which  led 
men  to  trust  him  as  the  sure  leader  of  their  ways; 
a  student,  who  yet  was  a  great  man  of  action,  a 
man  of  vision  who  effected  practical  results;  one 
who  thought  of  all  the  outreachings  of  men's  hearts 
toward  the  truth,  and  whose  own  heart  rested  in  the 
simplest  evangelical  faith. 

And  we  remember  even  more  to-day — his  pure, 


158        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

child-like,  spiritual  character,  unostentatious,  never 
ebullient,  but  always  deep  and  tender  and  true.  I 
remember  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  us  in  the  spring 
of  his  eightieth  year,  these  sentences  of  which  are 
inscribed  in  the  fly-leaf  of  this  little  Testament : 

'  One  who  has  seen  so  many  years  of  blessings 
has  no  right  to  complain.  The  one  thing  which 
is  most  clear  and  emphatic  to  my  consciousness  is 
the  fact  that  any  hope  which  I  cherish  must  rest 
outside  of  my  life.  I  have  no  complacency  in  the 
record  of  my  life.  From  my  present  standpoint  I 
see  more  clearly  than  ever  before  the  absolute  need 
of  a  vicarious  salvation.  I  shall  go  down  to  the 
tomb  resting  in  this  alone.'  We  are  reminded  of 
the  words  in  General  Armstrong's  last  memoran- 
dum. (I  am  quoting  only  their  substance.)  '  I  do 
not  need  any  long  utterance.  Simply  to  Thy  Cross 
I  cling,  is  enough  for  me.' 

That  was  the  fundament  of  his  faith  and  life. 
He  felt  no  complacency  in  the  record  of  his  life,  but 
we  who  worked  side  by  side  with  him  for  long  years, 
who  saw  him  in  the  daily  routine,  under  the  pres- 
sure of  great  problems,  where  it  was  inevitable  and 
desirable  that  diverse  views  should  be  brought  to- 
gether, we  who  watched  him  day  by  day  can  bear 
testimony,  that  during  all  these  years  we  never  saw 
aught  of  selfishness  or  malice  or  pettiness  or  un- 
charitableness  in  his  pure  and  unselfish  spirit.  I  do 
not  believe  he  ever  spoke  one  word  or  cherished 
one  thought  whose  object  was  the  advancement 
of  his  personal  interest  or  the  promotion  of  his  own 
prominence.     He  walked  in  a  cheery  selflessness  of 


MR.  SPEER'S  ADDRESS  159 

devotion  to  a  great  cause,  in  the  calm  and  quietness 
of  the  yielding  up  of  himself  to  the  service  of  his 
Master;  and  in  the  lofty  rest  of  his  mind  and  heart 
in  such  a  devotion,  he  lived  above  our  lower  regions 
of  turmoil,  with  all  their  pettiness  and  strife. 

We  rejoice  to-day  in  all  these  great  memories  of 
a  true  and  splendid  and  noble  life,  and  are  glad  that 
he  is  gone  where  he  would  be.  And  yet  in  the 
hearts  of  some  of  us  the  words  arise,  which  cannot 
be  suppressed,  of  the  younger  prophet  of  the  ages 
long  past :  *  My  father,  my  father,  the  chariots  of 
Israel,  and  the  horsemen  thereof.'  For  he  who  led 
us  these  long  years  has  been  taken  from  our  head 
this  day.  Bnt  we  know  that  he  would  have  us,  in- 
stead of  mourning  for  that  which  we  feel  that  we 
have  lost,  do  him  honour  if  we  must  by  fulfilling 
that  which  was  dearest  to  him,  and  by  devoting  our 
lives  afresh  to  the  cause  to  which  he  gave,  without 
withholding,  all  that  he  had  and  all  that  he  was. 
Blessed  be  his  dear  and  noble  name  forever !  " 


XV 

DR.   ELLINWOOD  AND  THE  WOMEN's  BOARDS 

(By  Miss  Ellen  C.  Parsons,  M./1.) 

WHEN  the  young  Secretary  was  inducted 
into  his  office  with  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  four  women's  organizations 
were  already  launched  and  each  was  flying  its  own 
colours.  None,  however,  was  more  than  a  year  old. 
Between  the  four  there  was  no  co-ordination,  and 
relationship  between  them  and  their  head  was 
vague.  Methods  of  procedure,  which  long  since 
have  been  settled  and  established  in  grooves,  were 
then  in  the  experimental  stage;  no  pattern  was  set 
up  to  which  the  eyes  of  all  looked  for  one  rule.  No 
one  foresaw  into  what  the  movement  was  to  grow. 
The  day  would  come,  but  it  was  decades  in  the 
future,  when,  rank  upon  rank,  the  women's  societies 
should  stand  in  harmonious  inter-dependence  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  each  wearing  its  own  dis- 
tinctive graces,  wielding  its  own  peculiar  influence, 
and  all  a  unit  in  loyalty  to  the  Assembly's  Board, 
and  a  contributory  force  to  bring  the  non-Chris- 
tian world  to  God. 

It  was  self-evident  that  upon  the  new  Secretary, 
1 60 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  i6i 

with  the  flashing  eyes  and  a  princely  courtesy  of 
manner,  would  fall  the  brunt  of  the  burden  to  "  help 
those  women."  To  Dr.  Ellinwood,  more  than  any 
other  human  helper,  the  Women's  Boards  owe  their 
development  and  the  status  which  they  reached.  If 
women  of  some  other  churches  in  our  country  had 
been  blessed  with  a  leadership  like  his,  there  could 
not  have  existed  such  breaches  between  them  and 
their  brethren  as  are  visible  to  this  day.  How  was 
the  task  accomplished?  How  could  he  guide  with- 
out interfering?  How  did  he  deal  with  the  inexperi- 
enced? Dr.  Ellinwood  sometimes  referred  laugh- 
ingly to  the  "  Wars  of  the  Roses."  Provincialism 
among  Christian  women,  which  is  not  wholly  eradi- 
cated yet,  was  much  in  evidence  in  the  '70s  of  the 
last  century.  H  nothing  else  had  been  effected 
through  their  Boards  than  the  composing  of  sec- 
tional jealousies  and  knitting  together  in  sympathy 
of  women  members  of  the  same  church,  in  far  sepa- 
rated parts  of  our  country,  it  were  a  result  worth 
all  the  outlay.  How  did  the  great  Secretary  influ- 
ence the  result  ? 

By  setting  up  an  exalted  standard.  Nothing 
petty  allowed.  He  sent  the  banner  to  the  masthead 
and  held  it  there.  Who  ever  found  Dr.  Ellinwood 
bringing  the  argument  for  Foreign  Missions  dov/n 
to  a  drawing-room  level,  or  using  his  own  person- 
ality to  gain  allegiance  for  what  Christ  commanded  ? 
The  motive  must  stand  on  high  religious  grounds, 
and  his  personal  dignity  as  a  minister  of  Jesus 


i62        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Christ  was  impregnable.  Because  he  worked  in  that 
way,  he  imparted  a  certain  elevation  to  the 
machinery  of  the  societies.  When  he  found  ideas 
about  Foreign  Missions  lying  flat  in  the  dust  of  nar- 
rowness and  selfishness,  he  picked  them  up  and 
swung  them  high  upward,  as  we  have  seen  masses 
of  granite  swinging  up  into  the  blue.  Millions  of 
women  groping  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism — 
that  was  the  great  fact,  and  he  held  it  up  and  applied 
to  it  the  principle  of  proportion.  This  was  his 
way  of  writing  to  officers  of  the  Women's 
Boards : — 

"  Suppose  the  idea  of  equality  or  justice  to  the  Boards 
should  come  to  take  the  place  of  the  world's  comparative 
wants !  You  and  your  sisters  have  enlisted  for  the  heathen 
women  of  your  generation,  for  all  of  them,  and  in  just  pro- 
portions, for  a  few  in  our  country  and  the  millions  abroad. 
Will  you  lose  sight  of  your  sublime  errand,  to  balance  funds 
with  mere  Boards?  Labour  to  give  according  to  real  de- 
mands in  woman's  proper  work.  Do  nothing  to  please  Sec- 
retaries or  for  any  kind  of  vainglory  to  anybody.  The  world 
is  perishing,  your  sex  is  crushed  the  wide  world  over.  You 
have  a  most  solemn  work  and  your  time  is  short."  (1878.) 

To  another  (1876),  regarding  a  small  book  he 
had  printed  called  "  The  Great  Conquest  "  : 

"  You  will  think  it  a  little  book  with  a  big  name 
and  rightly:  but  I  was  bound  not  to  belittle  the 
great  cause  because  its  advocate  was  a  pigmy." 

To  a  leader  in  New  York  State : — 

"  We  have  in  two  years  allowed  15,000,000  of 
Chinese  to  perish  with  famine,  with  only  here  and 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  163 

there  an  individual  case  of  practical  sympathy, 
whereas  if  a  community  of  Kansas  or  Utah  had 
been  starving,  we  would  have  so  heaped  our  gifts 
upon  them  in  two  weeks  that  they  would  have 
asked  us  to  stay  our  hands.  And  there  is  about  the 
same  difference  in  our  distribution  of  the  Bread  of 
Life.  Let  us  not  forget  that  only  we,  who  now 
live  in  the  possession  of  the  truth,  can  send  the 
Gospel  to  those  of  our  day  who  never  heard  of 
Christ." 

A  foundation  principle  with  Dr.  Ellinwood  was 
that  the  new  movement  among  women  of  the 
Church  had  been  spontaneous  and  the  societies  were 
not  subject  to  ecclesiastical  control.  He  did  not  go 
about  proclaiming  this  in  women's  meetings.  He 
found  the  situation  and  respected  it.  It  was  thor- 
oughly congenial  to  his  mind,  for  Dr.  Ellinwood  had 
large  confidence  both  in  Christian  liberty  and  in 
the  practical  devotion  of  Christian  women.  He 
could  sincerely  treat  them  as  comrades  and  they 
said  of  him  at  the  time  of  his  death,  "  He  never 
patronized  us."  There  was  frequent  occasion  for 
expressing  himself  on  this  point  to  pastors  and 
others. 

In  the  first  period  of  his  secretaryship  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood found  himself  engaged  in  "  a  rush  of  conven- 
tions "  and  not  pleased  with  the  usually  small  oppor- 
tunity offered  for  presenting  Foreign  Missions.  He 
said  he  wanted  "  to  hold  the  subject  before  popular 
attention  long  enough  to  make  a  distinct  impression, 


i64         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

not  a  '  church- work  blur.'  "  In  1871  he  writes  to  a 
pastor:  "As  to  union  of  all  church  work,  that  is 
just  what  we  are  fleeing  from.  It  would  be  the 
Synod  over  again,  in  which  fifty  things  are  ground 
out  in  succession  without  even  time  to  clean  the 
hopper."  And  again  to  another :  *'  The  tendency 
of  this  machine  work  is  to  reduce  all  causes,  great 
and  small,  to  the  sameness  of  a  row  of  pins."  In 
answer  to  a  pastor's  request  to  deliver  an  address 
(1874): 

"  I  am  very  glad  that  you  are  moving  for  a 
Woman's  Presbyterial  Missionary  Society.  It  is  a 
new  promise  of  the  coming  time  when  this  great 
work  shall  not  depend  upon  the  Board  of  a  Gideon's 
small  army,  but  when  everybody  will  be  at  work 
by  Presbyteries  and  churches  and  hamlets.  .  .  . 
We  have  found  that  a  convention  manned  by  Pres- 
byters on  the  ground,  with  such  facts  as  mission- 
aries can  give,  accomplishes  more  than  those  which 
simply  listen  to  Secretaries.  I  have  attended  con- 
ventions with  Dr.  Dickson  in  the  interest  of  Home 
and  Foreign  Missions  where  they  made  us  talk  by 
the  hour  to  passive  audiences,  and  we  went  home 
feeling  that  little  had  been  done.  On  the  other 
hand,  such  meetings  as  those  recently  held  at 
Ouincy  and  Peoria,  by  subsidizing  the  local  talent — 
and  you  are  always  surprised  to  find  how  much 
there  is — cultivate  fibre  instead  of  adipose.  Rev. 
Wm.  F.  Johnson  *  of  India,  is  superb.     He  and 

*  Still  in  India  after  fifty  years'  service. 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  165 

Mrs.    Rhea    will    make    you    strong    with    home 
talent." 

To  an  inquiring  woman  in  Ohio  (1876)  : 

"  I  have  consulted  my  brethren  here  with  regard  to  a  State 
Missionary  Convention  and  we  feel  that  a  Woman's  Conven- 
tion would  be  more  efifective :  because  it  would  throw  the 
responsibility  on  those  who  have  the  most  tact  and  deepest 
interest  in  the  subject,  and  because  it  would  secure  the  at- 
tendance of  quite  as  many  men  as  a  general  convention.  Be- 
sides, it  would  escape  the  red  tape  of  Synodical  management 
which  'killeth.'" 

To  Rev. (1878): 

"  As  to  whether  your  Woman's  Auxiliary  Society  should 
change  its  relations,  it  must  be  decided  by  the  ladies  them- 
selves, who  undoubtedly  have  the  right  so  to  do.  We  have 
a  rule  never  to  influence  a  society  to  change  its  relations,  or 
in  any  way  to  aid  one  against  another." 

To  a  woman  at  large  (1878)  : 

"  Your  kind  letter  came  in  my  absence  at  Synods.  ...  I 
believe  that  I  was  the  first  to  propose  Presbyterial  and  Synod- 
ical Societies  (i.e.,  in  a  missionary  convention  held  several 
years  ago — Newark,  N.  J.),  but  I  never  thought  of  anything 
more  than  merely  to  observe,  for  convenience,  the  same 
boundaries  as  our  Church  courts,  and  to  keep  up  a  close  sym- 
pathy with  them.  ...  I  see  no  more  reason  why  a  Synod 
should  appoint  or  nominate  officers  for  your  missionary  so- 
cieties than  for  the  Orphan  Asylum  in  your  city.  Your 
societies  are  voluntary  and  independent,  therefore  no  organic 
part  of  our  ecclesiastical  system." 

This  view  he  corroborated  from  the  minutes  of 
the  General  Assembly. 


i66        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

The  annual  meeting  became  very  important  in 
each  Woman's  Board,  It  was  held  now  in  one  city, 
the  next  year  in  another,  its  sessions  covering  sev- 
eral days.  For  addresses  on  these  and  many  other 
occasions,  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  in  great  request.  No 
other  Secretary  in  the  country  ever  faced  so  many 
churches  packed  with  women.  The  influence  of 
his  public  speeches  was  powerful,  and  yet  his  best 
work  for  the  training  of  a  solid  phalanx  of  allies 
within  the  societies,  was  probably  done,  not  through 
the  brilliant  platform  address  but  through  a  constant, 
patient,  luminous  correspondence  with  their  ap- 
pointed officers.  Forty-three  letters  written  by  him 
in  the  course  of  two  years,  to  the  industrious  secre- 
tary of  one  Woman's  Society,  may  be  found  copied 
into  one  of  his  many  old  letter-books. 

Secretary  Anderson  of  the  American  Board 
said : — 

"  I  shall  die  easy  since  the  formation  of  the 
Woman's  Board."  Dr.  Ellinwood  might  have  said 
that  the  Women's  Boards  never  left  him  an  oppor- 
tunity to  die.  They  were  constantly  communicating 
with  him,  springing  something  new,  wanting  to 
know.  Yet  not  a  line  from  his  pen  can  be  found 
intimating  that  they  ever  wrote  too  often,  too  per- 
sistently or  too  minutely.  To  one  woman  deprecat- 
ing, he  replied :  "  Do  not  be  afraid  of  teasing  us. 
We  appreciate  the  help  we  receive  from  question- 
ings, even  severe  criticisms,  of  women  of  the  Church, 
both  East  and  West."   In  this  correspondence.  Dr. 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  167 

Ellinwood  was  always  open,  vital,  and  unhackneyed. 
Though  many  letters  were  concise,  few  ended  with- 
out a  graceful  touch,  and  the  meaning  was  so 
distinctly  on  the  face  of  them,  that  a  person  was  un- 
savingly  dull  who  had  to  ask  for  a  second  explana- 
tion. It  was  his  habit  to  frequently  quote  his  senior 
associates.  "  Our  wise  man  Dr.  Irving  says  " ;  or, 
"  Dr.  Irving  with  his  wonted  generosity  " ;  again, 
"  What  I  am  saying  represents  the  mind  of  all  the 
secretaries."  The  subject-matter  of  this  correspond- 
ence included  everything  which  concerned  the 
women,  either  in  their  relation  to  the  Assembly's 
Board  or  to  the  Missions.  The  new  Secretary  had 
scarcely  taken  his  desk,  when  he  wrote  (Nov.  i, 
1871)  accepting  an  invitation  to  deliver  an  address 
in  Philadelphia,  and  added  this  counsel:  "If  you 
want  your  first  experimental  convention  to  be 
leaven,  it  would  be  wise  to  see  that  it  is  well  written 
up  for  the  Church  papers  (afterwards).  Many  a 
capital  impression,  locally  made,  falls  to  the  ground 
for  want  of  this." 

To  another  who  was  lukewarm : — 

"We  are  quite  willing — nay,  desirous — that  you  shall  en- 
gage zealously  in  every  good  work  in  our  own  country,  under 
such  organizations  as  you  shall  choose  to  form.  Give  in 
such  proportions  as  you  choose;  set  down  to  each  distinct 
society  as  much  or  as  little  as  you  think  best — only  let  us 
know  that  your  Foreign  work,  whatever  it  be,  shall  be  solid, 
permanent,  and  distinct.  We  send  a  lady  to  China  not  for  a 
year  but  for  life.     Were  the  permanent  help  of  the  women 


i68        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

seriously  diminished,  we  should  have  nearly  a  hundred  ladies 
scattered  over  the  earth  vi^ithout  any  certain  means  of  support." 

Realizing  that  a  missionary  might  occasionally 
call  out  more  compassion  for  herself  than  her  case 
warranted,  he  wrote  (1875)  to  a  Woman's 
Board : — 

"  There  is  a  sort  of  inventiveness  sometimes 
among  missionaries  as  to  things  desirable  and  use- 
ful, which  can  hardly  be  a  criterion.  It  is  natural. 
They  see  only  the  one  field  and  cannot  know  the 
comparative  uses  to  which  funds  can  be  put.  They 
do  not  know  that  $100  or  $500  is  made  up  of  small 
sums  which  it  is  hard  to  raise.     Now,  as  to  Miss 

's  house,  it  seems  to  me  less  in  need  of  an 

addition  than  any  other  property  which  I  saw  in 
China.    It  is  on  a  breezy  hill." 

Dr.  Ellinwood  did  not  pose  as  instructor  to  the 
Women's  Boards;  he  would  have  said  that  he 
learned  from  them.  Yet,  line  upon  line,  he  was 
educating  them  to  take  the  measure  of  their  duties. 
Of  self-support  in  the  Missions :  "  It  is  desirable 
from  the  start  that  Mexicans  shall  understand  that 
we  are  stimulating  them,  not  carrying  them  in  our 
arms."  (1874).  How  difficult  for  societies,  when 
they  had  raised  the  standard  amount  for  running 
their  pet  girls'  school,  to  realize  that  they  were  en- 
gaged in  "  team  work  "  and  losses  must  be  shared 
by  those  who  had  not  lost : — 

"  I  would  be  glad  if  the  woman's  work  could 
be  so  adjusted  as  to  fully  sympathize  with  ours — 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  169 

shrink  or  expand  with  the  rest.  For  how 
will  it  affect  Dr.  Happer,  Messrs.  Farnham  and 
Mateer,  if  we  take  $200  off  from  their  schools,  in- 
stead of  dividing  the  $200  deficit  between  theirs  and 
the  girls'  schools  by  their  side?"  (1876). 

Again  in  the  same  year : — 

"  As  to  the  unpopular  work  which  we  offer, 
we  leave  it  to  the  ladies  to  take  it  or  not.  It 
will  at  least  show  you  what  a  multitude  of  odds 
and  ends  there  are,  and  will  explain  why  we  cannot 
select  a  '  picturesque  charity  '  for  every  one.  If  you 
were  acting  on  the  basis  of  the  Union  Society,  you 
would  need  to  assume  a  thousand  expenses  which 
our  Board  now  covers :  passages,  freights,  ex- 
change, medical  bills,  rents,  taxes,  etc.  Do  not 
think  that  I  am  losing  my  interest  in  woman's  work. 
I  only  wish  that  its  narrow  restrictions  could  be 
thrown  off.  Have  you  not  some  auxiliaries  which 
will  take  the  higher  ground  of  giving  to  the  general 
cause  of  heathen  women?  " 

Again,  to  the  same  (Dec.  1876) : — 

"  I  see  the  force  of  your  reasoning  about  shrink- 
ing the  gifts  of  your  auxiliaries.  Suppose  they 
were  to  occupy  this  position :  *  We  give  this  money 
for  a  certain  specific  object,  but  in  a  larger  sense 
we  give  it  to  the  Divine  Master  for  his  great  cause. 
If  you,  or  the  Board,  or  the  Mission,  can  make  it 
accomplish  more  than  was  expected,  in  these  times 
of  retrenchment,  we  are  very  glad.  We  know  that 
the  surplus,  and  a  great  deal  more,  will  be  needed 


I70        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

somewhere.'  Can  you  bring  your  societies  up  to 
such  a  spirit  ?  Must  we  always  pay  out  given  sums 
for  certain  objects,  whether  needed  or  not  ?  .  .  .  I 
went  to  Binghamton  the  other  day  to  attend  a  meet- 
ing. The  ladies  afterwards  sent  me  $20  to  cover 
expenses.  As  it  had  cost  me  only  $15,  I  credited 
them  with  $5  as  a  donation  and  wrote  them  accord- 
ingly. Was  it  bad  faith  not  to  use  all  the  money 
for  the  specific  object?  .  .  .  Still,  you  may  be 
sure  we  shall  at  all  times  try  to  conform  our  plans 
as  much  as  possible  to  your  views,  and  not  insist 
on  our  own — even  when  we  do  frankly  state  our 
own." 

It  was  not  a  waste  of  time  and  strength,  though 
both  were  lavishly  expended,  for  Dr.  Ellinwood  to 
fully  spread  out  the  principles  for  which  he  stood 
to  his  representative  correspondents.  And  he  knew 
it.  The  women  composing  the  Boards  were  of  the 
flower  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Among  them 
were  many  who  inherited  ancestral  devotion  to  the 
Church,  staunch  qualities,  faith  in  the  cove- 
nant-keeping God.  When  they  should  clearly 
understand  and  have  gained  experience,  they 
would  become  reliable  allies — none  more  so. 
Looking  back  over  the  years,  one  of  the  beauti- 
fully wrought  offerings  laid  on  the  altar  of  Foreign 
Missions — and  moth  nor  rust  can  ever  corrupt  it — 
was  the  fidelity  with  which  such  early  officers  as 
Mrs.  S.  C.  Perkins  of  Philadelphia,  Mrs.  A.  Holmes 
Hoge,  and  Mrs.  Benjamin  Douglass  of  Chicago, 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  171 

Mrs.  John  Lorimer  Graham  of  New  York — not  to 
mention  the  living — passed  over  to  their  constitu- 
ency lessons  which  they  had  learned  from  the  great 
Secretary.  They  were  the  best  of  pupils.  A  first 
quality  of  his  letters  was  clarity  of  thought  and  un- 
equivocal expression.  They  also  were  clear-headed, 
and  what  they  received  they  gave  out,  not  warped, 
not  dwarfed.  They  passed  it  on  in  every  accent 
required  for  rural  community  or  for  city  society, 
for  the  plain  woman  or  the  polished,  until 
thousands  who  had  never  seen  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood's  handwriting  nor  heard  his  voice,  were 
aiming  at  his  standards  and  acting  upon  his 
counsel. 

Was  ever  a  Secretary  so  quick  with  generous 
recognition  of  efforts  and  loyalty? 

"  We  admire  the  spirit  with  which  you  yield  to  the  provi- 
dential indications  with  regard  to  Miss  . 

I  trust  that  all  shocks  which  the  missionary  spirit  of 
the  ladies  received  from  the  corre- 
spondence have  passed,  leaving  only  a  firmer  faith,  a  higher 
resolve  and  nobler  forbearance. 

I  believe  you  make  fewer  mistakes  than  we  do  here.  God 
speed  you!"  Again  (1874):  "This  steady,  unflagging  supply 
from  your  treasury  renders  it  impossible  for  any  member  of 
the  Board  to  fail  of  appreciation  of  your  efforts."  To  an- 
other (1877)  :  "Your  Board  is  our  tower  of  strength  in  the 
West.  It  is  a  chief  barrier  against  the  grasping  selfishness, 
which  the  colder-blooded  and  more  calculating  spirit  of  men 
would  put  upon  the  Christianity  of  the  West."  To  another: 
"  Your  Board  has  done  more  for  us — I  say  it  advisedly — than 
all  the  Synods  as  Synods  and  all  the  Presbyteries  as  Pres- 
byteries, West  of  the  Lakes." 


172         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

The  Secretary  and  his  correspondents  did  not  in- 
variably agree.  "  I  am  still  compelled  to  differ  from 
the  views  which  prevailed  in  your  Committee,  so  let 
us  see  what  the  Mission  will  say."  To  another :  "  I 
opposed;  but  when  the  judgment  of  others  has  over- 
borne mine,  I  generally  acquiesce,  and  not  as  a 
foe."  To  another :  "  I  welcome  your  letters.  I 
would  rather  you  give  us  your  honest  opinions, 
even  when  we  cannot  agree  with  them.  We  do  not 
always  agree  with  each  other,  and  the  Board  decides 
and  we  cheerfully  acquiesce." 

Dr.  Ellinwood  loved  to  cultivate  the  sympathetic 
side  in  the  societies.  We  find  him  appealing  to  them 
to  bring  home  to  America  the  mother  of  Mr.  Dan- 
forth,  a  missionary  who  had  died  in  Syria.  "  This 
does  not  come  within  our  rules,"  he  wrote.  "  Can- 
not something  be  done  on  the  same  principle  that 
boxes  are  sent  to  the  wives  of  Home  Missionaries?  " 
Concerning  a  comfortable  house  for  a  missionary 
with  delicate  lungs :  "  The  Board  has  not  yet  de- 
cided upon  a  house,  but  would,  I  think,  if  the  women 
were  disposed  to  furnish  the  funds.  Nothing  seems 
to  me  more  appropriate  for  women  than  thus  to 
provide  for  the  comfort  of  missionary  families,  and 
it  is  a  solid,  permanent  help  to  the  Board," 

When  Dr.  Ellinwood  came  into  office  the 
Women's  Boards  were  publishing  two  separate 
magazines.  In  1873  he  proposed  a  consolidation. 
The  plan  was  rather  elaborate  and  was  not  adopted, 
but  it  became  the  seed-thought  for  the  union  maga- 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  173 

zine  which  was  realized  in  1885.  The  rejection  of 
his  proposal  did  not  in  the  least  cool  the  Secretary's 
ardent  interest  in  this  and  all  of  the  women's  pub- 
lications. Of  their  magazine  for  children  he 
wrote : — 

"  I  am  glad  you  are  taking  steps  to  make  the  most  of  it.  It 
is  impossible  to  do  too  much  to  gain  the  eye  and  ear  of  the 
Church  for  the  great  work  of  Missions,  when  so  many  other 
things  are  constantly  making  their  appeals,  and  when  the  din 
and  confusion  of  ten  thousand  objects  are  likely  to  deafen, 
if  not  to  craze,  the  Church." 

After  Dr.  Ellinwood's  death  the  editorial  report 
of  the  union  magazine  contained  the  following  pas- 
sage : — 

Woman's  Work  weeps  for  the  loss  of  Dr.  Ellinwood ! 
There  was  no  one  in  a  position  to  so  befriend  it,  and  it 
never  had  a  truer  friend.  The  last  time  he  came  to  my  office, 
frail  though  he  was,  his  eyes  were  clear  to  their  depths,  and 
in  his  speech  was  a  sparkle  as  of  old.  "  I  came  to  say  good- 
bye," he  said.  "  Mrs.  Ellinwood  and  I  have  been  reading 
Woman's  Work  all  winter.  I  shall  read  it  always."  He 
shook  my  hand  and  crossed  the  threshold,  then  paused  and, 
looking  up  to  the  inscription  on  the  door,  in  a  tone  that  was 
both  farewell  and  benediction,  he  said,  "  God  bless  Woman's 
Work  " — and  slowly  repeated — "  God  bless  Woman's  Work." 

Another  proposition  which  Dr.  Ellinwood  early 
advanced  and  defended,  with  delicious  sarcasm  on 
the  false  economy  which  opposed  it, — was  to 
create  the  office  for  a  woman  secretary  who  should 
be  a  connecting  link  between  the  Boards  of  Women 
and  that  of  the  Assembly.    This  was  under  discus- 


174        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

sion  for  a  dozen  years  before  the  position  was  estab- 
lished and  filled  in  the  autumn  of  1885. 

Words  he  often  used,  "  We  shall  be  entirely  im- 
partial," were  consistently  borne  out  in  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood's  office.  Injustice  to  missionaries,  especially, 
his  spirit  could  not  brook.  Many  a  time  he  sent 
a  scorching  answer  to  some  newspaper  slur.  When 
an  officer  at  home  desired  his  interference  with  cer- 
tain young  women  on  the  field,  his  reply  occupied 
the  first  paragraph  of  his  next  letter :  "  We  do  not 
feel  at  all  like  smothering  those  women.  We  make 
our  boast  of  them,  and  are  only  too  glad  that  they 
share  the  perplexities  of  a  work  full  of  details, 
which  must  be  administered  ten  thousand  miles  off, 
on  the  foundation  of  meagre  reports  and  corre- 
spondence." That  was  all  he  had  to  say,  and  his  pen 
moved  on  to  the  next  subject. 

In  1 88 1  there  were  some  occurrences  which  led 
him  to  formulate  his  views  regarding  the  position 
which  a  woman  missionary  holds  in  her  Mission. 
They  are  summed  up  in  a  sentence :  '*  Give  the 
ladies  a  voice  in  regard  to  their  own  work."  Fur- 
ther light  is  thrown  by  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter  to  a  leading  ordained  missionary : — 

"  We  do  not  understand  how  Miss  ,  who  is  equally 

a  missionary  with  Mr.  ,  should  hold  her  stewardship 

from  him,  or  how  he  should  be  invested  with  any  authority 
to  accept  a  resignation  from  her.  ...  By  his  own  showing, 
he  has  simply  notified  her,  from  time  to  time,  that  her  work 
would  be  changed,  she  would  do  this  or  that,  or  not  do  this 
and  not  do  that,  without  consulting  her  opinions  even  to  the 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  175 

extent  of  courtesy.  Are  the  relations  of  men  and  women 
such  in  the  Mission,  that  mere  difference  of  sex  con- 
stitutes the  right  in  such  cases,  and  that  in  woman's  own 
proper  sphere  of  work,  to  direct  and  command?  .  .  .  In- 
justice cannot  pass  unnoticed." 

A  hint  of  Dr.  Ellinwood's  everyday  manner  at 
Board  headquarters,  may  be  gathered  from 
Woman's  Work  (December,  1908)  : 

"  I  well  remember  seeing  him  late  one  afternoon,  getting 
off  for  the  train  on  a  tour  of  the  Synods.  He  was  standing 
in  his  office  and  bending  over,  as  he  gave  a  mighty  push 
to  sundry  articles  of  clothing,  books,  and  manuscripts  with 
which  his  gripsack  bulged  out.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
dictating  to  his  stenographer,  in  a  calm,  unruffled  voice,  the 
polished  paragraphs  of  a  lecture  to  be  delivered  before  the 
University  of  New  York. 

He  accepted  interruptions  gracefully.  Many  a  time  some 
woman,  from  a  little  town  in  Delaware  or  Idaho,  begged  to 
be  introduced  to  the  senior  Secretary.  With  hesitation  I 
opened  his  door  and,  no  matter  what  momentous  concerns 
filled  his  mind,  he  was  on  his  feet  before  we  were  fairly 
inside  and  all  attention  to  the  visitor,  like  a  gentleman  of 
leisure.  His  resources  of  learning  made  it  a  pleasure  to 
ask  Dr.  Ellinwood  questions.    One  always  received  more  than 

she  went  for.    When,  once,  he  began  to  reply  '  I  don't  kn ,' 

I  exclaimed :  '  Oh,  I  cannot  have  you  say  that ;  you  never 
said  "  I  don't  know  "  before ! '  '  Didn't  I  ?  '  he  replied,  laugh- 
ing, '  I  ought  to ; '  and  he  then  proceeded  to  light  up  the  sub- 
ject with   keen   suggestions. 

When  the  Boards  moved  into  their  present  building,  where 
all  our  departments  could  be  gathered  for  the  first  time  on 
one  floor,  a  daily  prayer-meeting  was  instituted.  It  did  not 
occur  to  my  mind  that  any  one  would  lead  that  meeting — 
that  any  one  would  dare — except  the  Secretaries.  It  soon 
appeared,  however,  that  all  who  were  willing,  younger  or 


176         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

older,  were  invited  to  lead  in  turn.  This  must  have  been  a 
new  style  in  Dr.  Ellinwood's  experience,  but  he  adopted  it 
as  naturally  as  if  he  had  grown  up  in  a  Christian  Endeavour 
Society.  I  have  seen  him  enter  the  room  looking  tense  and 
fatigued ;  and,  leaning  back  in  a  restful  attitude,  his  face 
would  beam  with  a  fatherly  expression  as  some  inexperienced 
young  man  or  woman  stepped  up  to  the  table  and  read  the 
Scriptures.  I  think  their  youth  and  their  willingness  re- 
freshed him.  And  what  nuggets  of  wisdom  he  gave  ua  in 
those  meetings  I" 

"  When  I  first  came  to  be  Secretary  of  the 
Board,"  he  said  one  day,  "  amid  my  early  experi- 
ences of  disappointments,  of  the  apparent  indiffer- 
ence of  God  to  the  value  of  human  life,  failure  of 
health,  etc.,  I  was  greatly  strengthened  by  some- 
thing said  to  me  by  one  more  experienced.  '  We 
must  face  the  fact  that  this  work  is  to  be  done  under 
human  conditions.'  And  so  it  is.  Men  fall  in  the 
Senate,  in  Wall  Street,  in  every  enterprise :  we  are 
all  subject  to  human  conditions.  Go  into  a  forest 
and  see  it  in  its  length  and  beauty.  It  is  easy  to 
note  the  dead  logs  and  withered  branches,  but 
come  again  and  you  will  see  the  evidence  of  the 
forest  renewing  itself  with  fresh  life.  The  forest 
stands  and  grows.  So  we  must  be  willing  to  step 
aside  and  be  no  more  counted;  but  the  work  goes 
on  in  renewed  power." 

One  day  the  subject  was  mentioned  of  sending 
a  representation  to  General  Otis  at  Manila,  regard- 
ing beer  shipped  from  the  United  States.  "  Yes," 
said  Dr.   Ellinwood ;   "  a  little  later,  when  things 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  177 

become  more  positive;  and  also  send  an  expression 
upon  absolute  religious  equality.  Commissioners 
are  more  timid  about  Protestants  going  into  the 
Philippines  than  about  beer.  If  one  begins  ducking 
and  trimming,  now,  to  the  friars  and  Archbishop 
Ireland,  what  will  it  be  farther  on  ?  " 

"  Fruits,  fruits !  "  exclaimed  the  Secretary,  ad- 
dressing the  Conference  of  young  outgoing  mission- 
aries.    "  After  seed  has  been  sown  in  old  missions, 

we  must  expect  fruit.    Men  like and 

and "  (naming  living  missionaries)  "  would 

not  be  content  to  go  on  and  gather  no  fruits.  For 
the  rest  of  my  days,  my  prayer  is  going  to  be  for 
fruits." 

At  another  similar  Conference,  the  missionary, 
Mrs.  Hepburn,  had  been  speaking,  and  a  letter 
written  by  a  missionary  in  China  about  Dr.  Eleanor 
Chesnut,  had  been  read.  Dr.  Ellinwood  rose  and 
remarked  that  he  would  drop  what  he  had  intended 
to  say  and  would,  instead,  call  attention  to  some 
things  which  those  present  had  been  listening  to. 

"  Young  people,  if  you  think  things  are  going 
hard  with  you  when  you  get  over  there  in  your 
various  fields,  remember  Mrs.  Hepburn  and  rally 
your  courage!  Remember  her  ship,  and  her  one 
window.  Instead  of  the  mission  circle  that  will 
greet  you,  and  the  houses  ready  for  you,  remember 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hepburn  wandering  around  in  Yoko- 
hama and,  through  the  Consul,  trying  to  get  a  place 
to  live  in."    He  pointed  to  Dr.  Chesnut's  linguistic 


178        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

acquirements.  "  Often  doctors  write  that  medical 
work  crowds  so,  they  are  behind  in  language  study 
— they  have  to  defer  examinations.  This  is  a  doc- 
tor who  has  learned  three  languages  in  four  years 
and,  as  you  see  from  the  letter,  she  has  also  been 
crowded  with  medical  work." 

For  thirty-seven  years,  without  a  flaw,  without 
a  break,  Dr.  Ellinwood  maintained  the  same  inti- 
mate relation  with  the  Board's  constituency  of  Pres- 
byterian women.  Many  of  the  voices  which  cheered 
him  on  in  early  years  were  hushed  in  the  long  silence, 
before  his  death.  Fortunately  a  few  ladies  of  the 
"  Old  Guard  "  survive  and  this  chapter  shall  close 
with  their 

Recollections. 

"  Englewood,  N.  J.,  Jan.  26,  1910. 

I  am  delighted  to  hear  of  the  forthcoming 
Memoirs  of  Dr.  Ellinwood.  It  will  enrich  the 
church  and  the  world,  and  will  spread  the  mission- 
ary contagion  that  is  enkindling  and  encircling  the 
earth. 

Dr.  Ellinwood  was  a  scholar,  a  reader,  a  teacher. 
His  voice  was  not  the  loudest  in  the  world,  but 
clear  and  commanding,  and  he  held  his  audience 
with  unrelaxing  grip  from  start  to  finish.  He  was 
especially  a  man's  speaker.  They  could  not  get 
around  his  logic.  And  how  we  women  sat  at  his  feet 
receiving  instruction  and  encouragement !  He  made 
foreign  missions  fascinating,  convincing.  I  can 
see  him  now,  his  face  glowing  and  the  people  hold- 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  179 

ing  their  breath  to  listen,  and  we,  women  of  the 
societies,  thanking  God  that  we  had  such  a  cham- 
pion. I  heard  him  often,  and  have  travelled  with 
him  several  times  on  long  journeys  from  one  ap- 
pointment to  another,  conferring  with  him  in  the 
cars  on  matters  of  the  kingdom,  and  have  shared 
with  him  the  riches  of  western  hospitality,  espe- 
cially in  Chicago,  at  Mrs.  Hoge's  bountiful  table. 

We  passed  him  along  the  line  of  the  Northwest 
as  generously  as  we  could.  None  but  the  initiated 
can  realize  the  fatigue  of  travel  from  one  strategic 
point  to  another,  from  Minnesota  to  Kentucky,  Ohio 
to  Colorado,  fields  ripe  for  the  harvest,  much  land  to 
be  possessed,  and  only  one  Dr.  Ellinwood !  It  was 
not  easy  to  get  over  so  much  ground,  amid  the  un- 
certainties of  winter,  and  our  soldier-leader  was 
not  one  to  tax  poor  societies  and  demand  the  costly 
luxuries  of  modern  travel.  Alas,  there  were  many 
places  he  could  not  visit,  and  many  hungry  and 
thirsty  ones  have  never  heard  Dr.  Ellinwood.  May 
this  book  reveal  him  to  them. 

(Mrs.)  Sarah  J.  Rhea." 

"  Chicago,  Jan.  26,  1910. 
Dr.  Ellinwood's  sympathy  and  advice  meant 
much  to  us  in  those  early  days,  when  many  of  the 
fathers  and  brothers  had  little  confidence  in  the 
new  movement.  With  not  a  few  it  was  a  serious 
question  what  St.  Paul  would  have  thought  of  our 
Annual  Meetings.  We  were  always  more  or  less 
fearful,  during  a  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly, 
that  some  action  would  be  taken  to  limit  us  in  our 


i8o         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

plans.    But  we  always  felt  confident  that  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  would  stand  by  us. 

I  never  heard  him  deliver  but  one  address,  but 
that  was  a  notable  one  and  made  a  strong  impres- 
sion. It  was  during  a  meeting  of  the  General 
Assembly  at  Chicago,  and  was  delivered  in  old 
Farwell  Hall— the  Y.M.C.A.  building.  The  hall 
was  crowded.  A  number  of  women  connected  with 
our  Northwest  Board  sat  together  in  the  gallery. 
The  platform  was  large.  Dr.  Ellinwood  stood 
easily  at  the  end  of  a  long  table.  If  he  had  notes 
at  all,  they  were  for  only  occasional  reference.  His 
appearance  was  prepossessing;  a  slender,  erect 
figure,  dark  hair  and  beard  and  lustrous  dark  eyes. 
He  spoke  a  full  hour,  holding  the  close  attention  of 
his  audience  from  first  to  last.  It  was  the  annual 
presentation  of  Foreign  Missions  as  carried  on  by 
the  Assembly's  Board.  I  can  now  recall  but  a  few 
sentences.  He  was  pleading  for  larger  contributions 
from  Presbyterians  in  the  West  and  said  something 
to  this  effect :  It  was  not  that  Western  men  were 
narrow  in  their  views  and  close  in  money  matters^ 
that  they  gave  so  little  to  Foreign  Missions.  He 
did  not  know  any  men  with  broader  views,  who 
looked  farther  into  the  future  than  Western  men. 
No  small  farm  such  as  we  find  in  the  Eastern  States 
would  satisfy  them;  they  went  to  the  broad  prairies 
and  took  up  a  claim  or  bought  a  farm  of  several  hun- 
dred acres.  They  mortgaged  this  to  build  large 
barns  so  as  to  house  their  large  harvests,  and  to 
procure  the  best  approved  machinery  for  cultivating 
the  land.    As  time  passed  the  mortgage  was  reduced 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  i8i 

and  the  farmer  considered  that  he  could  cultivate 
more  land  with  greater  profit;  so  he  added  largely 
to  his  holdings,  giving  another  mortgage.  In  the 
meantime  he  had  no  money  for  Foreign  Missions, 
little  time  or  thought  for  '  the  white  harvest  field,' 
for  which  the  Saviour  bids  us  pray. 

In  the  address  there  was  a  mixture  of  humour, 
fire  and  enthusiasm  which  was  inspiring.  The  daily 
press  eulogized  the  orator  and  wondered  that  a  man 
of  such  talent  could  confine  himself  to  such  a 
cause. 

As  soon  as  the  speaker  closed,  we  women  hurried 
from  our  seats  to  overtake  him  as  he  was  leaving 
the  hall,  and  surrounded  him  at  the  door.  We  tried 
to  tell  him  what  we  thought  of  his  address  and  to 
congratulate  him.  He  smiled  upon  us,  looking  very 
pale  from  nervous  weariness,  and  said,  '  You  must 
let  me  go  to  my  room,  I  cannot  say  another  word.' 
(Mrs.  Wm.)  Sarah  B.  Blair." 

"  Chicago,  Jan.  29,  19 10. 
Blessed  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  not  only  a  tower  of 
strength  to  us  in  his  knowledge  and  judgment,  but 
his  delicate  and  unfailing  courtesy  and  kindness, 
his  willingness  to  receive  and  consider  and  answer 
all  our  appeals,  made  us  happy,  for  we  realized  the 
value  and  sincerity  of  his  friendship.  The  impres- 
sion of  his  face,  serious  yet  illuminated — his  large 
dark  eyes  compelling  absolute  confidence — is  abid- 
ing. I  knew  that  he  was  often  worn  and  always 
busy,  but  when  I  called  to  see  him  at  his  New  York 
ofiice,  he  never  made  me  feel  that  he  had  no  time 


i82         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

for  me.  His  constancy  of  '  vision,'  his  personal 
serenity,  during  all  the  painful  limitations  of  his 
later  years,  seem  to  me  simply  wonderful.  He  was 
surely  called  and  ordained  and  inspired  by  God  for 
very  unusual  service. 

(Mrs.  Albert)  Harriette  S.  Keep." 

"  Philadelphia,  Feb.  15,  19 10. 

We  loved  and  revered  the  other  Secretaries,  but 
they  were  not  always  willing,  like  Dr.  Ellinwood,  to 
give  us  the  free  hand  in  carrying  on  our  work,  or 
to  work  for  us. 

He  could  move  an  audience  as  I  doubt  whether 
any  other  Secretary,  before  or  since,  has  been  able. 
We  always  wanted  him  for  our  public  meetings, 
and  sometimes  had  to  manage  in  order  to  get  him, 
so  as  not  to  seem  to  neglect  other  speakers.  His 
facts  were  never  cold  and  hard,  though  we  had 
plenty  of  them,  thrown  out  with  such  vigour  and 
warmth  and  tenderness  and  eloquence  as  to  go 
straight  to  the  heart.  I  am  sure  he  did  more  than 
any  other  one  man  in  the  whole  Church  to  help  on 
our  woman's  work,  and  to  make  us  feel  that  ours  was 
depended  upon  as  a  part  of  the  church's  work.  I 
remember  how,  almost  every  year,  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore our  books  closed,  I  used  to  get  a  letter  from 
him  asking  what  money  we  had  on  hand  and  how 
we  expected  to  come  out;  telling  how  Mr.  Rankin's 
books  stood  and  what  they  hoped  and  feared.  Then 
when  I  would  send  my  last  big  check,  how  often 
he  would  write  thanking  us,  and  commending  us 
for  our  year's  work.     The  women  of  those  days 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  183 

did  not  work  for  praise  any  more  than  they  do  now, 
but  it  was  pleasant  when  we  had  done  our  best, 
to  be  told  so  in  such  a  sincere  and  appreciative  way. 
I  know  it  helped  us  to  aim  at  larger  work  for  the 
next  year.  I  only  express  what  I  am  sure  was  the 
feeling  of  all  the  '  ancients  '  of  our  Society,  that 
Dr.  Ellinwood  was  the  best  friend  our  work  ever 
had. 

(Mrs.)  Julia  M.  Fishburn." 

"  San  Francisco,  March  24,  19 10. 

A  very  interesting  feature  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly held  in  Cleveland,  O.,  in  1875,  was  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood's  address.  He  had  just  returned  from  a  trip 
around  the  world.  He  was  eloquent,  forceful,  in- 
structive, vivacious.  He  opened  up  the  life  and  con- 
ditions of  the  non-Christian  peoples  so  vividly,  that 
we  had  a  new  vision  of  the  momentous  question  to 
be  solved  by  the  Church  of  Christ,  The  impression 
made  upon  us,  who  were  new  in  the  Occidental 
Board,  was  deep  and  lasting.  Later  on,  he  paid  a 
visit  to  San  Francisco,  and  a  lecture  he  delivered 
in  Calvary  Church  gave  an  equally  vivid  picture 
of  the  need  for  money  and  missionaries,  and  the 
call  to  the  churches. 

Not  long  before  the  death  of  Dr.  Ellinwood,  I 
talked  with  him  at  his  office  in  New  York.  Although 
age  and  infirmities  were  creeping  upon  him,  his 
animated  conversation  about  our  growing  work 
was  inspiring. 

(Mrs.  E.  V.)  Pauline  Robbins." 


i84        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

"  New  York,  Feb.  15,  1910. 

Mrs.  Perkins  and  I  used  to  say,  '  But  for  Dr. 
Ellinwood,  the  Presbyterian  women  would  have 
been  thwarted  in  their  Foreign  Missions  move- 
ment.' He  was  pre-eminently  the  women's  cham- 
pion. It  was  a  somewhat  delicate  position  which 
he  held.  While  the  reunion  of  Old  and  New  School 
Churches  had  broken  down  external  barriers,  an 
unvoiced  meum  et  tuum  kept  the  whole  Church 
consciously  or  unconsciously  watchful  lest  one  or 
the  other  of  the  contracting  parties  should  gain  pre- 
eminence. I  laugh  at  this  distance,  as  I  recall  how 
we  women  in  Philadelphia  were  affected  by  such 
unworthy  considerations.  To  some  of  us  Dr.  Irving 
(O.S.)  was  the  oracle  in  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, while  to  others  Dr.  Ellinwood  (N.S.)  was 
the  man  of  the  hour. 

The  saying  of  Coleridge  to  his  pupils,  *  If  you 
would  understand  me  you  must  believe  in  me,'  illus- 
trates Dr.  Ellinwood's  relation  to  the  Women's 
Boards.  He  had  faith  in  a  woman's  purposes  and 
aims  when  these  were  energized  by  Christian  love. 
I  have  never  heard  finer  tributes  to  woman  paid 
by  anybody  than  used  to  fall  from  Dr.  Ellinwood's 
lips,  when  addressing  General  Assembly,  in  behalf 
of  the  various  Women's  Missionary  Societies.  As 
an  orator.  Dr.  Ellinwood  was,  in  Church  Courts, 
without  a  peer;  fluent,  graceful,  attractive,  at  the 
start — but  as  he  struck  out  and  gripped  his  audience, 
he  cast  off  formalities  and  concentrated  his  effort 
on  convincing  his  hearers  of  the  claims  which  For- 
eign Missions  laid  upon  them.     Then  it  was  that 


THE  WOMEN'S  BOARDS  185 

he  rose  to  the  subHme.  I  recall  occasions  when  I 
fairly  trembled  under  the  outbursts  of  his  impas- 
sioned oratory. 

Bear  with  me  a  little  longer,  for  the  sake  of  get- 
ting a  sidelight  on  what  I  call  Dr.  Ellinwood's  fair- 
mindedness.  There  was  a  time  when  we  women 
were  disturbed  by  too  many  local  organizations,  as 
we  thought.  There  were  those  of  Philadelphia,  of 
New  York,  of  the  Northwest,  of  the  Southwest, 
and  a  distinct  organization  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Those  of  a  later  generation  can  hardly  realize  (and  I 
am  ashamed  to  own  it)  how  much  bitter  feeling 
cropped  out.  There  must  have  been  times  when 
the  poor  Secretaries  were  *  put  to  it,'  to  wisely 
advise  us.  It  was  at  a  great  meeting  where  each 
of  these  Societies  and  Boards  was  represented,  that 
Dr.  Ellinwood  rose  to  speak.  He  began  by  calling 
attention  to  Guido  Reni's  Aurora — '  a  wonderful 
picture  ' — and  to  his  mind  '  a  striking  illustration.' 
Instead  of  painting  but  one  female  figure  the  artist 
had  brought  five  into  service  on  his  canvas  for  ush- 
ering in  the  dawn.  This  was  '  a  type  of  the  Mil- 
lennial Day  toward  which  all  Christian  effort  is 
hastening.'  You  see  his  point,  and  can  imagine 
how  small  some  of  us  seemed  to  ourselves  as  we 
*  caught  on.' 

While  this  business  of  organization  was  going 
forward,  it  happened  that  Mrs.  Prentiss,  author  of 
'  Stepping  Heavenward,'  and  of  well-known 
hymns,  was  my  guest  in  Philadelphia,  and  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  was  also  there.  As  we  were  chatting  about 
one  thing  and  another,  I  quoted  the  proverb,  '  Wise 


i86         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves/  Mrs.  Prentiss 
picked  me  up  instantly,  by  asking,  '  Did  you  ever 
stop  to  think  how  the  prescription  should  be  com- 
pounded? It  is  three  pounds  of  snake  to  one 
ounce  of  dove.'  Dr.  Ellinwood  went  off  to  bed 
laughing,  came  to  the  breakfast  table  next  morning 
laughing,  and  said  to  me  as  he  left  our  house,  '  That 
prescription  is  worth  taking  back  to  headquarters  ia 
New  York.' 

You  see  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  wake  the 
memory  of  an  old  lady  who  poses  as  the  Survivor 
of  august  events  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
forty  years  ago.  I  feel  as  if  I  had  opened  a  drawer 
filled  with  lavender. 

(Mrs.  Z.  M.)  Harriette  L.  Humphrey."* 

*  Since    writing   this    letter,    Mrs.    Humphrey    has   herself 
passed  on  "  where  saints  immortal  dwell." 


XVI 

AS  SECRETARY  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  FOR- 
EIGN MISSIONS 

(By  Robert  E.  Speer,  D.D.) 

DR.  ELLINWOOD  was  one  of  the  ablest 
Mission  Board  secretaries  this  country  has 
known.  He  came  to  his  work  with  a  rare 
equipment  of  mind  and  will,  and  the  thirty-seven 
years  of  his  connection  with  the  Presbyterian 
Board  witnessed  the  rich  development  of  all  his 
great  powers. 

In  1 87 1  he  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
and  until  his  death  at  Cornwall,  Conn.,  on  Septem- 
ber 30,  1908,  he  retained  his  connection  with  the 
Board,  though  failing  health  had  compelled  him 
several  years  before  his  death  to  lay  aside  all  work. 
For  more  than  a  generation,  however,  he  was  en- 
gaged actively  in  the  administration  of  the  mission- 
ary enterprise,  and  his  career  set  before  men  a  new 
conception  of  the  richness  and  vitality  and  power 
of  such  administrative  service.  Dr.  Ellinwood  was 
never  a  mere  routine  official.  He  did  his  routine 
work  with  accuracy  and  fidelity,  but  it  did  not  engulf 
him.    He  poured  into  it  the  inspirations  which  came 

187 


i88         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

from  the  broadest  conception  of  the  missionary  en- 
terprise, and  office  routine  and  correspondence  were 
the  mere  tools,  with  him,  of  a  great  intellectual  and 
spiritual  ministry,  both  to  the  Church  and  to  the 
cause. 

He  began  his  secretarial  work  under  the  old  re- 
gime. There  were  no  stenographers  then.  The 
literature  of  missions  was  poor  and  narrow.  The 
different  missionary  organizations  were  isolated 
units  without  common  knowledge  or  council.  Secre- 
taries were  not  supposed  to  need  a  first-hand  knowl- 
edge of  the  field,  perhaps  because  some  of  the  exist- 
ing secretaries  had  been  missionaries.  The  whole 
plane  of  missionary  appeal  and  administration  and 
apologetic  needed  elevation.  The  old  had  done  its 
work  well  and  had  now  made  ready  for  something 
better  to  succeed  it.  In  a  paper  read  in  1901  at  one  of 
the  Presbyterian  Board's  Conferences  of  New  Mis- 
sionaries, Dr.  Ellinwood  described  some  of  the  con- 
ditions which  he  found  at  the  beginning  of  his  secre- 
taryship. 

"  One  thing  which  I  soon  learned  in  connection 
with  this  work,  and  the  thing  whose  importance  has 
grown  upon  me  ever  since,  was  the  desirability  of 
comprehending  so  far  as  possible  the  total  of  mis- 
sionary effort,  as  carried  on  by  all  Boards  and  Soci- 
eties. About  three  years  after  entering  upon  my 
work  as  Secretary,  I  visited  our  Missions.  Up  to 
that  time  our  missionary  literature  had  concerned 
itself  almost  entirely  with  our  own  work,  and  had 


VISIT  TO  MISSION  FIELD  189 

consisted  mainly  of  letters  from  the  fields;  that  is, 
our  fields.  The  general  work  of  missions  was  not 
discussed  either  in  our  own  or  other  missionary 
magazines  to  any  extent.  But  when  I  reached  some 
of  the  great  mission  fields  and  saw  there  the  full 
array  of  men  and  women  representing  different 
societies  in  different  lands,  the  effect  upon  my 
mind  was  very  similar  to  that  which  I  had  ex- 
perienced some  years  before  while  visiting  one 
of  our  regiments  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac. 
As  I  arrived,  there  seemed  but  a  handful  of 
men  compared  to  the  total  force  to  be  met,  but 
when  the  next  morning  I  heard  the  bugle  calls 
in  all  directions  and  saw  the  camp-smoke  curl- 
ing up  from  other  unseen  regiments,  and  learned 
that  the  country  was  full  of  soldiers,  my  courage 
took  a  sudden  start.  So,  when  I  saw  the  full  front 
of  missionary  forces  and  came  to  look  upon  their 
labour  and  success  as  a  common  stock  of  encourage- 
ment for  each  and  all,  my  faith  in  missions  was 
wonderfully  strengthened. 

"  Some  of  you  will  remember  that  ex-President 
Harrison  used  this  same  simile  in  describing  the 
impression  made  upon  him  by  the  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference— with  this  advantage,  however,  that  he 
spoke  from  his  own  experience  as  an  old  soldier. 

"  After  that  visit  to  the  missions  I  began  to  culti- 
vate a  new  interest  in  all  missions,  the  varieties  of 
their  work,  their  comparative  success,  their  total 
success,  and,  when  finally  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  edit  the 
Foreign  Missionary  Magazine,  I  enlarged  it  from  32 
to  48  pages,  and  while  doing  justice  to  our  own  Mis- 


I90         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

sions  gave  some  place  to  the  total  work  of  the  king- 
dom. 

"  Many  of  our  exchanges  also  began  about  that 
time  to  take  the  wider  view;  and  the  movement  led 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Missionary  Reviezv  of 
the  World,  by  the  late  Rev.  R.  G.  Wilder. 

"  About  the  same  time  we  adopted  the  plan  of 
taking  up  one  mission  field  at  a  time,  assigning  a 
particular  month  to  each.  This  had  great  influence 
in  developing  the  interest  of  the  young  and  old. 
In  the  woman's  auxiliary  societies  and  zenana  bands, 
persons  were  appointed,  often  mere  girls,  to  present 
sketches  of  the  countries  named,  their  institutions, 
and  the  Missions  of  our  own  or  other  Boards.  New 
attention  was  given  to  the  monthly  concert,  and  one 
special  result  was  the  increased  knowledge  and  in- 
terest of  the  pastors.  Many  a  pastor  who  had  been 
remiss  found  it  necessary,  in  self-defence,  to  learn 
something  about  missions,  for  it  was  humiliating 
to  find  that  even  children  in  his  congregation  were 
better  informed  than  he.  Great  impetus  was  given 
to  all  these  movements  by  the  accession  of  the 
lamented  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  whose  eloquence  of 
voice  and  pen  will  not  soon  be  forgotten. 

"  I  need  not  dwell  upon  the  general  growth  of 
missionary  knowledge,  nor  the  interchanges  which 
have  been  made  between  different  societies  in  the 
use  of  their  statistics  and  other  literature.  All  this 
is  well  known.  Conferences  have  been  held  not 
merely  in  this  country  and  in  Great  Britain,  but  on 
the  large  mission  fields.  There  has  been  not  only  a 
great  increase  of  knowledge  in  all  the  branches  of 


MISSIONARY  KNOWLEDGE  GROWS  191 

the  church,  but  there  has  grown  up  an  emulation  in 
pushing  forward  the  work.  Missionary  maps  have 
been  much  more  fully  used  than  formerly.  The 
critics  of  missionary  work  who  previously  could 
scoff  at  the  work  in  detail,  as  if  it  were  a  very  little 
thing,  came  to  find  a  combined  army  rising  up  be- 
fore them.  The  policy  of  Balak  was  in  vain.  The 
tents  of  Jacob  in  their  full  array  could  not  be  put 
down  by  any  sort  of  divination.  The  secular  press 
has  come  to  respect  the  cause  of  missions  and  to 
deal  with  it  as  one  of  the  great  world  movements  of 
the  age,  and  polite  literature  finds  it  much  more 
difficult  than  formerly  to  sneer  at  the  Mrs.  Jellybys 
who  happen  to  be  interested  in  this  greatest  of 
causes.  What  had  been  done  in  anthropology  and 
sociology,  in  the  massing  of  vast  numbers  of  facts 
and  generalizations  into  a  scientific  system,  is  being 
done  also  in  the  w^ork  of  foreign  missions,  and  the 
materials  are  already  well  in  hand  for  what  may  be 
called  a  science  of  missions. 

"  The  crowning  result  of  this  wider  search  for  all 
missionary  knowledge,  and  the  convincing  and  over- 
whelming power  which  it  is  calculated  to  exert  is 
seen  in  the  masterly  work  of  Dr.  James  S.  Dennis 
on  Missions  and  Sociology. 

"  Another  line  on  which  I  think  substantial  prog- 
ress has  been  made  is  the  use  of  the  principle  of 
multiplying  one's  work  through  the  help  of  others. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  we  had  no  such  thing  as  type- 
writing or  stenography.  For  several  years  no  clerk 
of  any  kind  was  employed  in  the  Mission  House. 
There  were  only  an  assistant  treasurer,  an  office  boy 


192        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

and  a  janitor.  The  time  came  when  an  editor  was 
needed  to  take  charge  of  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Magadnc.  There  seemed  to  be  no  candidate  pro- 
posed except  a  venerable  pastor  in  New  Jersey, 
who,  it  was  thought,  might  conduct  this  organ  of 
the  Board  in  connection  with  his  pastoral  work. 
While  the  question  was  pending,  it  was  suggested 
that  one  of  the  secretaries  might  edit  the  magazine 
if  the  Board  would  give  him  a  stenographer.  This 
was  a  new  and  very  wide  departure.  No  such  thing 
was  known  in  any  missionary  Board  in  this  country. 
The  subject  was  very  fully  discussed.  Some  were 
in  favour;  others  opposed.  It  was  objected  that 
while  short  and  routine  business  letters  might  be 
written  by  such  means,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
write  a  careful  missionary  letter  by  dictation;  one 
must  think  with  his  pen.  To  which  it  was  replied 
that  one  Paul  of  Tarsus  had  written  some  very  re- 
spectable foreign  missionary  letters  through  an 
amanuensis,  and  that  the  few  short  epistles  which  he 
had  written  with  his  own  hand  were  rare  exceptions. 
The  point  was  carried.  A  stenographer  and  type- 
writer was  found,  and  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Magazine  was  supplied  with  an  editor.  Now, 
behold  the  change!  These  Mission  rooms  and 
those  of  the  Home  Board,  and  the  offices 
of  all  missionary  societies  and  almost  all  similar 
institutions  fairly  rattle  with  the  music  of  the 
typewriter,  and  books  filled  with  hieroglyphics  of 
Sanskrit  or  Syriac  are  multiplied  almost  by  the 
cord.  How,  otherwise,  could  we  do  our  work? 
How  could  our  young  high-pressure  secretaries  and 


IMPROVED  METHODS  193 

the  treasurer  get  on  without  all  the  stenographers 
they  can  find  ?  And  even,  at  that,  the  carbon  copies 
and  the  mimeograph  must  be  added.  At  the  same 
time,  there  are  far  more  of  printed  leaflets,  circulars 
and  what  not,  than  ever  before.  And  this  in  the 
Woman's  department  as  well. 

"  But  great  as  is  the  total  result  accomplished  by 
this  multiplication  of  ourselves  by  the  help  of  others. 
we  feel  that  we  still  fall  far  short  of  educating  the 
people  as  thoroughly  as  seems  to  be  necessary  to 
so  great  a  work.  It  would  be  a  pitiful  contrast  with 
the  rush  of  things  in  our  day,  when  newspapers 
and  magazines  and  every  form  of  printed  matter  are 
deluging  the  land  and  books  are  multiplied  without 
limit,  if  the  work  of  Missions, — the  greatest  enter- 
prise of  all — should  fail  to  keep  abreast  with  the 
onward  movement.  Not  only  is  a  far  greater  work 
accomplished,  but  it  is  also  of  better  quality.  It 
was  impossible  to  write  many  individual  letters 
when  a  secretary  was  obliged  with  his  own  pen  to 
write  every  word  and  every  punctuation  mark,  cross 
every  '  t '  and  dot  every  '  i,'  then  copy  the  letter, 
superscribe  the  envelope,  take  from  his  drawer  a 
stamp,  and  see  that  it  was  properly  affixed.  It 
was  impossible  to  do  much  more  than  write  Mission 
letters  with  the  bare  acknowledgment  of  the  corre- 
spondence received.  The  advantage  of  multiplying 
tenfold  the  individual  letters  to  the  missionaries,  of 
whom  each  Secretary  has  many  score  as  correspond- 
ents, is  great  for  other  reasons.  In  these  personal 
epistles  one  can  come  into  much  closer  sympathy 
with  the  individual  missionary,  and  I  am  sure  that 


194         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINVVOOD 

the  receipt  of  a  personal  letter  is  more  satisfactory 
to  him  than  to  have  a  bare  recognition  in  a  general 
epistle. 

"  This  leads  me  to  mention  another  great  advance 
which  has  been  made  in  Mission  work  for  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  by  the  organized  efforts  of 
the  Woman's  Boards,  for  if  it  is  of  great  advantage 
to,  missionaries  to  receive  personal  letters  from  the 
secretaries  here,  it  is  no  less  satisfactory  to  the 
women  of  the  Missions  to  receive  such  sympathetic 
communications  from  the  Boards  and  Auxiliaries 
of  their  own  sex.  The  bonds  of  sympathy  which 
have  been  strengthened  by  these  correspondences 
have  been  woven  over  the  earth's  surface  in  a  grand 
net-work  of  Christian  love.  Truly  their  lines  have 
gone  out  through  all  the  earth." 

And  he  added,  pressing  on  those  to  whom  he  spoke 
the  lesson  of  the  duty  of  self-multiplication,  "  Every 
one  whose  soul  is  alive  with  the  love  of  Christ  will 
be  inventive  of  means  and  resources."  His  soul 
was  so  alive. 

His  editing  of  a  missionary  magazine,  which  he 
lifted  at  once  into  a  remarkable  success,  was  only 
part  of  his  literary  work.  He  prepared  a  new  type 
of  pamphlet  and  began  at  once  a  great  stream  of 
contributed  articles  which  appeared  in  magazines 
in  Great  Britain  and  America,  and  which  presented 
a  fresh  and  powerful  restatement  of  the  grounds 
of  missionary  obligation.  He  had  a  remarkable 
power  of  keen  argument,  and  again  and  again  in 


AS  A  MISSIONARY  APOLOGIST      195 

the  papers  and  magazines  took  up  the  traducers  of 
missionaries,  or  of  the  missionary  principle  or  of 
Christianity.  Dr.  J.  H.  Barrows  wrote  home  from 
India  to  thank  him  for  an  article  in  the  Open 
Court,  in  which  Dr.  Ellinwood  had  dismembered 
and  dissected  some  representations  of  Shaku  Soyen, 
one  of  the  Buddhist  priests  from  Japan  who  had 
been  at  the  Parliament  of  Religions.  Foreign  Mis- 
sions had  to  fight  hard  for  life  in  the  earlier  days, 
and  no  one  did  more  than  Dr.  Ellinwood  to  bring 
the  cause  to  its  present  advanced  stage  in  the  work 
of  the  Church  and  the  thought  of  men.  Before 
he  died  he  had  issued  a  number  of  books.  "  The 
Great  Conquest "  was  the  first  of  them,  and  it  was 
an  arsenal  of  new  weapons  for  the  friends  of  Mis- 
sions. His  style  was  as  clear  and  simple  as  a  moun- 
tain brook,  and  philosophy,  scholarship,  and  delicate 
humour  mingled  in  all  that  he  wrote  and  said.  "  I 
can  see  the  whole  scene,"  wrote  a  prominent  pro- 
fessor to  him  of  an  article  about  a  visit  to  the  Sioux 
Indians.  "  It  was  refreshing  to  read  it.  There  is 
a  substratum  and  an  undercurrent  of  humour  under- 
neath the  whole,  that  for  so  good  a  man  as  you  are 
is  charming, — I  was  going  to  say  surprising, — '  a 
breaking  out  in  a  new  spot,'  so  to  speak."  In  his 
office  work  this  humour  was  always  present.  He 
had  a  stock  of  original  words  which  were  in  no 
dictionary,  but  which  exactly  described  human  quali- 
ties which  ordinary  men  had  to  describe  by  circum- 
locution.    But  more  than  anything  else  his  relent- 


196         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

less  and  earnest  logic  made  his  articles  and  speeches 
notable.  His  mind  worked  with  almost  perfect  pre- 
cision, and  in  reading  or  listening  to  him  one  had 
the  comfortable  feeling  which  comes  with  confidence 
in  the  integrity  and  absolute  reliability  of  a  great 
and  able  mind.  All  his  life  he  was  a  student,  read- 
ing many  books,  never  allowing  the  wells  of  his 
mind  to  go  dry,  so  that  when  he  took  up  any  subject 
he  at  once  lifted  it  above  what  was  commonplace, 
set  it  in  loftier  relations,  and  clothed  it  in  a  wealth 
of  exact  and  far-sought  knowledge. 

Dr.  Ellinwood's  openness  of  mind  and  eagerness 
to  welcome  all  new  forces  led  him  to  perceive  that 
the  day  for  the  development  of  women's  work  had 
come.  He  did  not  resent  it.  He  rejoiced  in  it.  This 
was  in  part,  doubtless,  because  he  was  such  a  gentle- 
man. The  old-school  courtesy  lingered  with  him. 
He  always  treated  women  in  his  office  as  he  would 
have  treated  them  in  a  drawing  room.  And  when 
their  work  began  he  met  it  in  the  spirit  of  a  gentle- 
man. But  also  he  realized  how  great  a  force  had 
been  neglected,  and  he  planned  with  the  women 
for  the  free  establishment  and  expansion  of  this 
work  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  The  result  has 
been  that  in  no  Church  has  there  been  more  unity 
and  concord  between  the  work  of  the  women  and  the 
work  of  the  ecclesiastically  appointed  organization. 

*'  I  need  not  speak  of  the  grand  development  of 
woman's  work  in  Missions.    It  is  too  well  known," 


HIS  PROGRESSIVENESS  197 

he  once  said.  "  I  only  congratulate  myself  on  the 
fact  that  I  have  been  permitted  to  see  the  whole  of 
it  from  its  first  beginnings  until  now,  and  if  there 
were  no  other  cause  for  gratitude  in  my  experience 
and  observation,  this  would  fill  me  with  satisfaction. 
I  remember  when  Elizabeth  Blackstone  first  had  the 
hardihood,  as  many  people  thought,  to  study  medi- 
cine, woman  though  she  was ;  and  I  remember  when 
Miss  Swayne,  who  I  believe  was  the  first  woman 
to  undertake  medical  missions,  went  to  India." 

He  welcomed  and  facilitated,  also,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Young  People's  work,  the  foreign  work 
of  the  Y.M.C.A.,  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement, 
and  the  work  of  laymen.  In  a  commandingly  com- 
prehensive paper  on  "  The  Progress  of  a  Genera- 
tion "  in  1902,  he  wrote: — 

"  It  is  another  auspicious  fact  that  our  generation 
has  developed,  as  no  other  age  of  the  Church  has 
done,  the  co-operation  of  the  laity.  Applied  Chris- 
tianity has  ceased  to  be  a  function  merely  of  the 
priestly  class,  the  old  pulpits  of  our  fathers  have 
descended  in  more  senses  than  one  much  nearer  to 
the  level  of  the  pew.  The  body  of  the  Church  has 
ceased  to  be  a  flock,  and  has  now  become  an  army. 
The  idea  prevails  that  everybody,  old  and  young, 
has  a  work  to  do.  This  is  true  not  merely  of  the 
multiplied  forms  of  Sabbath  School  work.  Church 
work,  settlement  work,  rescue  work,  etc.,  but  the 
change  pervades  all  society.  It  has  become  fashion- 
able with  our  great  universities  to  elect  lay  presi- 


198         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

dents.  Our  Board  of  Missions  has  chosen  a  lay  sec- 
retary. Even  the  General  Assembly  has  now  a  lay 
Vice-Moderator,  and  the  time  may  be  near  when 
it  will  lay  aside  the  '  Vice.'  It  is  certainly  neces- 
sary that  all  classes  of  believers  shall  be  subsidized 
and  mobilized  if  the  world  is  to  be  won  to  Christ, 
and  the  trend  is  now  in  that  direction." 

In  his  work  as  Secretary  he  was  fearlessly  cour- 
ageous in  entering  newly  opened  doors.  Through 
his  influence  the  Missions  in  Korea  and  the  Philip- 
pines were  established,  and  he  had  a  larger  part  than 
any  other  one  individual  in  the  development  of  the 
Missions  of  the  Board  in  China.  He  had  the  strate- 
gist imagination  which  enabled  him  to  realize  what 
was  an  opportunity,  and  he  had  the  administrative 
courage  to  achieve  actually  what  he  had  seen  in 
his  visions.  He  prepared  careful  papers  outlining 
policies  as  to  fields,  setting  forth  his  reasons  for 
believing  that  certain  fields  should  be  occupied  and 
where  the  emphasis  should  be  placed.  In  one  of 
these  papers,  which  was  an  elaborate  study  of  the 
whole  enterprise  of  the  Board,  he  began  by  say- 
ing:— 

"  I  have  long  thought  that  some  re-examination 
should  be  made  of  our  mission  fields,  their  relative 
importance  and  claims.  The  difficulty  has  been  that 
in  the  all-absorbing  care  of  our  work  as  it  has  gone 
on  from  year  to  year,  there  has  seemed  to  be  no 
time  to  take  broad  questions  and  give  them  a  thor- 
ough treatment.    We  have  lived  in  a  hand-to-mouth 


HIS  LARGE  POLICIES  199 

way,  attending  simply  to  the  things  that  impera- 
tively demand  attention,  and  so  we  have  simply 
drifted  from  year  to  year,  if  not  from  decade  to 
decade.  We  have  acted  upon  the  principle  that, 
first  of  all,  vacancies  should  be  filled,  and  that  with- 
out much  respect  to  the  relative  claims  of  different 
fields.  And  in  given  fields  we  have  acted  upon  the 
principle  that  the  old  work  should  first  have  atten- 
tion, whereas  there  may  be  some  vacancies  that 
ought  not  to  be  filled;  and  there  may  be  forms  of 
old  work  which  have  not  half  the  importance  of 
some  new  work.  Indeed,  if  we  were  always  to  act 
upon  these  principles,  real  progress  would  be  well- 
nigh  impossible;  no  change  for  the  better,  whether 
in  fields  or  in  work,  or  in  anything  else,  could  be 
introduced. 

"  I  would  divide  our  mission  fields  into  about 
three  classes :  first,  those  in  which  our  work  should 
be  kept  up  to  its  present  force  of  missionaries  and 
its  present  geographical  extent  of  work  (except  as 
the  extent  could  be  enlarged  by  native  workers  and 
out-stations  as  distinguished  from  increase  of  mis- 
sionaries and  forming  of  new  stations);  second, 
those  which  should  be  given  up,  not  suddenly  per- 
haps, but  gradually;  third,  those  promising  fields 
which  seem  to  call  for  extension  and  decided  ad- 
vancement. 

Then  he  proceeded  to  survey  all  the  fields  of  the 
Board  and  the  methods  of  work  in  use.  He  was 
as  ready  for  improvement  in  the  home  administra- 
tion, and  submitted  as  comprehensive  and  radical 


200        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

papers  on  this  subject  as  he  would  draft  on  the  work 
abroad. 

He  was  always  thinking  on  questions  of  Mission 
policy.  In  his  letters  to  the  Missions  and  in  his 
home  speeches  and  articles,  and  in  the  office  consul- 
tations he  was  ever  reaching  after  and  setting  forth 
fundamental  principles. 

"  There  are  some  problems,"  he  said  in  a  paper  in 
1901,  "  which  have  long  existed  and  which  I  have 
had  greatly  in  mind,  for  which  no  solution  has  yet 
been  found.  How,  by  careful  comparison  and  just 
estimates  of  respective  claims,  can  we  learn  where 
and  how  to  make  the  wisest  outlays  and  realize  the 
best  use  of  the  resources  which  Providence  pro- 
vides? No  one  who  studies  the  history  of  Missions 
can  feel  assured  that  the  best  assignments  of  men  or 
the  wisest  methods  have  always  been  made.  Often 
it  seems  as  if  comparative  waste  and  loss  had  been 
suffered.  In  the  inception  of  missionary  enterprise 
in  different  lands,  societies  have  generally  been 
moved  by  some  providential  circumstance  or  pecu- 
liar opening.  A  mission  has  been  formed  with 
little  reference  to  others,  but  mainly  for  its  own 
particular  reasons,  and  it  is  very  natural  when  a 
number  of  Missions  have  been  entered  upon  the  list 
to  treat  them  all  more  or  less  alike,  and  in  providing 
for  them  to  deal  with  the  rights  and  claims  of  the 
missionaries,  rather  than  the  comparative  claims  of 
the  fields  they  represent.  Vacancies  must  be  filled; 
certain  proportions  must  be  observed  in  supplying 
pecuniary  support,  or  if  there  are  from  time  to  time 


HIS  SCIENTIFIC  SENSE  201 

departures  from  this  levelling  method,  it  is  because 
particular  emergencies  have  arisen  and  those  emer- 
gencies are  considered  apart;  the  sympathetic  in- 
terest which  they  excite  is  acted  upon  without  weigh- 
ing the  comparative  demands  of  other  Missions; 
possibly  some  missionary  comes  home  who  has  a 
particular  talent  for  arousing  people  to  help  in  his 
field  or  his  special  work,  or  some  large-hearted 
giver  conceives  an  interest  in  a  particular  missionary, 
or  a  particular  institution,  and  so  the  work  advances 
on  various  lines  in  accordance  with  the  drift  of  cir- 
cumstances. And  there  never  seems  to  be  time  to 
weigh  up  the  whole  subject  and  if  possible  devise 
the  best  methods  of  securing  the  largest  possible 
aggregate  of  results,  with  the  means.  Of  course, 
the  guiding  hand  of  the  Divine  Providence  is  our 
chief  trust,  but  under  that  I  think  that  just  here 
we  need  a  science  of  Missions.  Perhaps  we  do  the 
best  that  we  can  in  the  circumstances,  but  I  have 
long  since  been  persuaded  that  a  more  scientific 
adjustment  is  desirable.  This  has  been  for  many 
years  the  unfulfilled  desire  of  my  heart.  There  are 
certainly  great  differences  in  the  opportunities 
afforded  us  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  There 
are  some  Mission  fields  which  are  yellow  for  the 
harvest  and  in  respect  to  which  we  are  in  danger 
of  losing  our  opportunities;  there  are  others  in 
which  the  growth  at  best  must  be  slow,  and  which, 
therefore,  present  less  urgent  claims.  There  are 
some  lands,  for  example,  which  have  for  centuries 
enjoyed  at  least  a  partial  light  of  the  Gospel,  and 
the  influence  of  some  ancient  and  decrepit  Christian 


202         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Church,  while  there  are  others  in  which  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  in  any  form  has  never  been  made 
known,  and  if,  according  to  the  Prophet  Ezekiel, 
a  distinction  shoiikl  be  made  between  those  who  have 
been  warned  and  those  who  have  not,  we  ought  to 
heed  that  difference,  and  discriminate  in  favour  of 
the  most  needy. 

*'  Again,  there  are  races  whose  geographical  posi- 
tion, or  entrenched  false  systems,  or  waning  race 
energies,  give  little  promise  of  their  future  influence 
on  the  world  about  them  or  beyond  them,  and  there 
are  others  whose  geographical  position  or  racial 
relationships,  or  greater  numbers,  or  stalwart 
vigour  seem  to  point  them  out  as  nations  which 
may  mould  others  and  greatly  advance  the  civilisa- 
tion of  the  world.  On  any  business  principle,  on 
any  wise  and  far-seeing  estimate,  missionary  effort 
should  study  the  proper  place  of  emphasis,  and  put 
forth  its  labours  as  a  wise  husbandman  would  do, 
as  a  skilful  miner  would  choose  between  the  richer 
and  the  poorer  ores,  as  a  wise  general  would  dispose 
his  forces  for  the  best  results.  I  think  that  in  this 
coming  century  some  of  these  problems  must  be 
considered  as  they  have  not  been  heretofore,  and 
when  we  think  that  a  generation  of  men  passes  off 
the  surface  of  the  earth  in  every  third  of  a  century, 
and  that  for  the  generations  now  living  we  who  are 
now  working  must  be  held  responsible,  it  would  seem 
as  if  not  much  time  should  be  lost.  And  mission- 
aries as  well  as  administrators  should  study  and 
weigh  these  world  problems  and  not  consider  only 
the  interests   of   their  own  particular  fields.     At 


VIEWS  OF  MISSION  PROBLEMS     203 

least  they  should  be  patient  with  the  Board  if  some- 
times a  cherished  object  is  made  subordinate  to  the 
good  of  the  great  cause  as  a  whole." 

Among  the  particular  problems  which  concerned 
him  in  later  years  was  the  development  of  self-sup- 
port, the  missionary  fruitfulness  of  educational 
operations  on  the  foreign  field,  the  administrative 
independence  of  the  native  Church,  the  raising  up 
of  native  leadership  and  the  promotion  of  an  intense 
evangelistic  spirit.  Pages  could  be  filled  with  his 
careful,  earnest  discussion  of  these  questions.  To- 
ward the  close  the  last  of  them  especially  concerned 
him. 

"  Another  thing,"  he  said,  "  which  I  would  place 
in  the  very  forefront  among  the  impressions  which 
have  grown  upon  my  mind  is  this;  that  the  impor- 
tance of  our  work,  whether  in  the  actual  contact  of 
the  missionary  on  the  field,  or  the  planning  and 
stimulus  of  the  work  here  at  home,  should  be  the 
conversion  of  men.  Do  you  ask  why  I  utter  such 
a  truism  as  this?  I  do  it  because  I  think  that  too 
often  a  feeling  has  grown  up  that  our  work  is  to 
prepare  the  way  for  somebody  hereafter  to  reap  the 
harvest.  There  is  no  phrase  so  much  abused  as  that 
of  '  seed-sowing.'  There  is  a  legitimate  sowing  of 
the  seed,  but  neither  the  phrase  nor  the  idea  should 
be  made  a  subterfuge  or  an  excuse  for  a  limp  and 
self -contented  inefficiency.  As  a  friend  put  it, 
*  A  missionary  in  Benares  belonging  to  one  of  the 
British  societies,  once  told  me  that  he  had  preached 


204         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

the  Gospel  in  that  city  ten  years,  but  he  had  never, 
so  far  as  he  knew,  been  the  means  of  any  conver- 
sion, and  when  I  showed  some  surprise  at  his  appar- 
ent freedom  from  concern,  he  said  that  it  was  his 
business  to  preach  the  Word — he  really  had  nothing 
to  do  with  results.'  Quite  different  was  the  feeling 
of  Mr.  Hudson  Taylor  the  other  day,  when  in  the 
great  conference  he  urged  the  missionaries  to  aim 
at  the  conversion  of  men  at  once,  even  though  it 
might  be  the  first  and  possibly  the  only  opportunity, 
and  he  gave  instances  in  which  the  work  of  the 
Spirit  had  thus  directly  owned  the  message  and 
made  it  effectual.  As  we  turn  back  to  the  New 
Testament,  I  think  we  find  that  that  was  very  much 
the  way  in  which  believers  were  expected  to  respond 
when  Peter  and  John  and  Stephen  and  Paul  pro- 
claimed to  them  the  message  of  salvation. 

"  I  once  heard  the  Secretary  of  a  missionary 
Board  say  that  about  the  least  concern  of  all  to  the 
missionary  was  the  question  of  numbers  received 
into  the  Church.  His  meaning  was  good,  but  it  was 
a  careless  and  one-sided  statement.  It  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  sometimes  a  great  and  exclusive  empha- 
sis is  put  upon  the  statistics  of  Church  membership. 
But  dissent  from  this  view  has,  I  think,  been  carried 
too  far  and  indicates  a  lack  of  that  travail  for  souls 
of  which  Paul  speaks.  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  the 
unit  of  measurement  in  preaching  the  Gospel  of 
reconciliation  is  the  individual  soul." 

No  one  realized  more  clearly  or  stated  more  ade- 
quately than  he  the  broad  relations  of  the  missionary 


THE  CHIEF  WORK  OF  MISSIONS    205 

enterprise  and  its  place  as  a  great  general  force 
among  the  agencies  of  God,  yet  he  longed  for  definite 
results  in  saved  men.  One  of  his  last  services  was 
to  write  to  all  the  Missions  a  letter  which  he  closed 
with  the  words  : — 

"  If  I  may  speak  of  myself  as  an  individual,  I 
would  say  that  as  the  result  of  more  than  thirty 
years  of  observation  and  experience  I  have  become 
increasingly  impressed  with  the  belief  that  in  what- 
ever department  of  Christian  labour,  soul- winning, 
soul  by  soul,  is  the  chief  work  of  the  Christian  disci- 
ple. The  Master  explained  this  whole  matter  per- 
fectly when  He  said,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  fruit 
bearing  of  the  branch  must  depend  on  its  vital  con- 
nection with  the  rooted  vine;  that  no  man,  depend- 
ing upon  his  own  wisdom  or  worthiness,  could  hope 
to  accomplish  anything  in  this  sacred  stewardship. 
But  in  the  second  place,  He  taught  that  the  degree 
of  fruitfulness  is  a  consideration  with  the  Master 
of  the  vineyard.  '  Herein  is  My  Father  glorified  that 
ye  bear  much  fruit,  so  shall  ye  be  My  disciples.' 

"  Much  of  our  Mission  work  within  these  years 
has  consisted  in  the  laying  of  foundations.  Several 
new  mission  fields  have  been  entered,  schools  and 
church  organizations  have  been  formed,  hospitals 
have  been  established.  All  these  are  needful  prepa- 
rations for  future  Pentecosts,  which  we  hope  may 
soon  appear.  In  some  fields  the  in-gathering  of 
souls  has  already  been  large;  others  are  beginning 
to  show  abundant  results.  It  is  the  most  earnest 
desire  and  prayer  of  my  closing  years  of  service, 


2o6         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

that  along  all  the  lines  and  ranks  of  our  harvest 
work  the  time  for  accessions,  beyond  our  fondest 
hopes,  may  now  come  with  its  cheering  witness  for 
the  triumphs  of  the  truth." 

He  had  the  primitive  Spartan  ideals  of  duty  and 
work.  If  he  thought  he  detected  in  our  easier  days 
any  departure  from  the  early  simple  frugalities  and 
heroisms  of  the  missionary  work  it  distressed  him. 
He  had  no  indulgence  or  habit  which  cost  a  penny, 
and  his  tastes  were  of  the  simplest  and  his  self-disci- 
pline the  most  austere.  He  wished  to  retain  this 
spirit  in  the  missionary  service. 

Dr.  Ellinwood  had  a  capacity  for  wise,  succinct, 
large-minded,  graceful,  tactful  statement  that  was 
simply  masterly.  He  was  an  ideal  spokesman  of 
a  deputation  or  representative  of  a  body  of  people 
united  in  a  cause.  He  made  the  valedictory  address 
in  behalf  of  the  American  delegates  at  the  London 
Missionary  Conference  in  1888.  And  it  was  as 
near  to  perfection  as  such  an  address  could  come. 
He  largely  organized  the  deputation  which  met  Li 
Hung  Chang  when  he  visited  the  United  States  in 
1896,  and  he  wrote  and  presented  the  address  which 
called  forth  a  remarkable  testimony  to  Missions 
from  the  Viceroy.  In  any  special  piece  of  work  like 
this,  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  unsurpassed.  For  many 
years  he  was  the  life  of  the  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
Western  Section  of  the  Presbyterian  Alliance.  If 
ever  difficulties   were  in  the  way  of  any   special 


DIPLOMATIST  AND  FINANCIER     207 

services  which  he  undertook,  he  was  never  discour- 
aged and  his  pertinacity  could  not  be  worn  down. 
He  was  the  chairman  of  the  committee  of  the  Pan- 
Presbyterian  Council  which  co-operated  with  Dr. 
John  G.  Paton  in  seeking  to  secure  action  by  the 
U.S.  Government,  protecting  the  South  Sea  Islands 
from  the  traffic  in  liquor  and  firearms.  He  revised 
Dr.  Paton's  appeals.  He  arranged  meetings  in 
Washington.  He  directed  the  awakening  of  public 
sentiment.  He  was  undiscourageable.  No  diplo- 
matist could  exceed  him  in  patience,  resourcefulness, 
in  tact,  and  no  diplomatist  could  equal  him  in  moral 
conviction  and  force. 

He  was  a  masterhand  at  financing  the  missionary 
enterprise.  Interested  as  he  was  in  the  large  phil- 
osophic aspects  of  Missions,  no  one  could  surpass 
him  in  planning  a  financial  campaign,  in  devising 
plans,  in  commanding  confidence,  in  effecting  re- 
sults. Again  and  again  he  raised  the  funds  for  spe- 
cial advance  movements  or  to  clear  off  heavy  defi- 
cits, and  the  Presbyterian  Building  in  New  York 
City,  the  handsomest  and  largest  church  business 
building  in  the  city,  owes  its  existence  and  its  free- 
dom from  indebtedness  more  to  him  than  to  any 
other  one  man.  One  of  the  leading  laymen  of  the 
Church,  Dr.  H.  B.  Silliman,  who  had  given  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  through  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood,  said  once  that  he  regarded  him  as  one  of  the 
wisest  and  most  sagacious  men  of  business  he  knew^ 
It  was  beautiful  to  see  him  attack  one  of  these  great 


2o8         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

financial  problems.  It  was  with  him  day  and  night. 
Each  time  he  came  to  the  office  it  was  with  some 
fresh  idea,  and  he  would  never  let  go  until  he  had 
prevailed. 

He  had  a  clear  and  comprehensive  conception  of 
the  motive  and  aim  of  missions.  He  had  thought 
on  these  things  and  among  his  papers  are  many  sug- 
gestive discussions  of  them.  In  one  of  them  he 
writes : — 

"  The  question  has  often  been  asked,  What  is 
the  chief  motive  for  the  work  of  Missions  found  in 
the  New  Testament?  Various  motives  have  been 
urged  with  almost  exclusive  methods  according  to 
different  theories  and  habits  of  Christian  thought. 
Is  the  chief  motive  that  of  witness-bearing?  This 
is  sometimes  urged  very  prominently,  but  we  might 
perhaps  find  some  light  thrown  upon  the  question 
by  the  actual  procedure  of  our  early  church.  The 
apostles  were  witnesses  and  they  probably  under- 
stood our  Lord  aright,  but  their  method  was  not  to 
proceed  from  town  to  town,  and  city  to  city,  pro- 
claiming the  Gospel  till  the  people  had  but  to  hear 
merely  and  become  responsible  for  the  message  deliv- 
ered, but  they  evidently  interpreted  the  Saviour's 
commissions  given  at  different  times,  one  by  an- 
other. They  understood  that  they  were  to  be  wit- 
nesses for  Christ  in  Jerusalem  and  in  Judaea  and 
unto  the  end  of  the  earth,  but  remembering  the  first 
commission  they  understood  that  their  errand  was 
to  disciple  all  nations,  not  merely  announcing 
to    them    that    Christ    had   come    in    the    flesh, 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE         209 

but    teaching    them    all    things     whatsoever    He 
had     taught     His     disciples.       In     other     words, 
the   witness-bearing   was   to    follow   His   methods 
of     indoctrination,     training,     qualifications     for 
work   to    be    done,    on   the    principle    that    every 
Christian  becomes  an  embassador  of  God.     And  in 
fact  the  apostles,  while  they  preached  the  Truth  far 
and  wide,  proceeded  upon  the  assumption  that  their 
great  work  was  actually  to  win  men  to  an  acceptance 
of  the  Gospel,  and  not  only  that,  but  to  train  them 
that  they  should  grow  up  into  the  full  stature  of 
men  in  Christ  Jesus.     Some  have  urged  that  the 
great  motive  was  the  love  of  Christ,  and  there  is 
much  to  be  said  for  this.    '  If  ye  love  me,  keep  my 
commandments  '  and  again  the  question  to  Peter, 
'  Lovest  thou  me  ?  '    If  so,  that  love  was  to  be  shown 
by  feeding  His  lambs,  and  while  unquestionably  the 
love  of  Christ  is  the  mainspring  of  all  Christian 
activity,  it  was  distinctly  taught  that  love  should 
take  the    form   of   pity   to   men.     A   cup   of    cold 
water  should  be  given  to  the  thirsty,  though  it  should 
be  given  in  Christ's  name;  the  sick  were  to  be  healed, 
the  poor  to  be  cared  for  with  as  tender  a  pity  as  if 
there  were  no  associated  motive,  and  sympathy  with 
their  suffering  was  the  only  impulse.     In  Christ's 
comiUiission  to  Paul  the  motive  of  compassion  to  the 
heathen  is  made  most  prominent;  it  is  a  work  of 
rescue,  it  is  delivering  men  from  darkness  into  light 
and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God;  it  is  reveal- 
ing unto  them  the  great  blessing  of  remission  and 
making  them  heirs  of  eternal  life  through  faith  in 
Christ.    There  is  then,  in  the  word  of  God,  no  war- 


2IO        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

rant  for  any  extreme  or  one-sided  interpretation 
of  Christ's  command  as  to  motive.  The  fact  that 
the  command  was  given,  the  fact  that  it  is  given  by 
Christ,  the  fact  that  we  are  commanded  to  have  in 
us  the  same  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  He  had, 
when  from  the  equal  glory  of  heaven  He  became 
poor  that  in  His  poverty  we  might  become  rich;  the 
fact  that  He  pitied  the  lost  multitudes,  who  were  as 
sheep  without  a  shepherd,  all  these  show  that  a 
variety  of  motives  is  to  move  the  heart.  In  one 
aspect  the  motive  looks  toward  Christ,  in  another, 
towards  those  for  whom  He  died ;  all  these  different 
views  are  presented  by  different  apostles.  Paul,  in 
view  of  what  had  been  done  for  him,  esteemed 
himself  a  debtor,  but  the  debt  was  payable 
to  the  lost  men,  whether  Jew  or  Greek,  bond  or 
free. 

"  Leaving  the  direct  teaching  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, there  is  a  great  variety  of  motives  of  still  dif- 
ferent character  which  should  urge  us  forward  in 
the  work  of  missions.  There  is  a  consideration  of 
our  own  indebtedness  to  those  who  brought  the 
Gospel  to  us  or  to  our  ancestors.  It  is  a  worthy 
motive  to  pity  the  physical  sufferings  of  the  heathen 
and  to  desire  to  improve  their  condition  in  this 
world,  by  teaching  them  our  industrial  arts,  and 
especially  by  giving  them  better  medical  instruction, 
and  a  more  efficacious  healing  art.  There  is  a  real 
motive  in  promoting  a  better  civilisation  throughout 
the  world,  advancing  the  estate  of  mankind  as  a 
whole,  even  in  their  earthly  life.  There  is  a  motive 
and  a  strong  one  in  the  reflex  benefits  of  the  mission 


VIEWS  ON  MISSIONS  211 

work  to  those  who  engage  in  it.    To  this  I  ask  at  the 
present  time  particular  attention." 

Another  paper,  which  was  a  closing  lecture  in  a 
series  of  lectures,  begins  with  the  summary: 

"  I  wish  to  show  in  this  closing  lecture  how  the 
work  of  Missions  is  inwrought  in  the  whole  life 
of  the  Christian  Church  and  in  its  origin,  its  com- 
mission, its  history,  its  doctrine,  its  hope  of  per- 
petuity and  final  triumph : 

I — It  truly  interprets  and  illustrates  the  New 
Testament  and  the  entire  word  of  God. 

2 — It  represents  dogmatic  truth  in  greater  vitality 
and  power  by  embodying  it  in  living  personality  and 
Christ-like  activity.  It  develops  the  Church  through 
a  divine  ambassadorship. 

3 — It  illustrates  in  a  peculiar  degree  Christ's 
presence  and  providential  superintendency  in  the 
world. 

4 — It  gives  special  emphasis  to  the  supernatural 
character  of  Christianity. 

5 — It  has  shown  the  universal  applicability  and 
value  of  our  Christian  ethics." 

On  a  scrap  of  paper  in  1893  he  wrote: — ■ 

"  We  have  a  magnificent  example  of  the  mission- 
ary polemics  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Rev. 
George  T.  Candlin,  missionary  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  China,  in  speaking  of  its  unknown 
author,  very  properly  characterized  him  as  the 
mightiest  controversialist  of  the  apostolic  age.    And 


212         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

he  was  the  mightiest,  because  wisest  and  most  tact- 
ful. One  might  say  the  most  charitable.  His  great 
aim  was  to  supersede  Judaism  with  the  broader  and 
grander  scheme  of  sacrificial  redemption  as  pre- 
sented in  Jesus  Christ — the  truly  availing  sacrifice 
offered  once  for  all.  What  should  we  do  ?  On  the 
one  hand,  he  did  not  denounce  Judaism.  He  did 
not  proceed  to  show  its  departures  from  the  original 
intent  of  bloody  sacrifice.  This  might  all  have  been 
true  enough,  but  it  was  not  wise.  Nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  did  he  waste  time  and  strength  upon 
any  fanciful  and  sentimental  union  or  brother- 
hood to  be  established  between  Judaism  and  Chris- 
tianity. The  one  was  to  be  superseded  by  the 
other." 

And  among  his  papers  was  a  memorandum  with 
the  following  heads : — 

"  I — The  Great  Aim  in  Mission  Work  is  the 
winning  of  souls  to  Christ,  and  every  form  of  mis- 
sionary work  should  keep  this  end  steadily  in  view. 
There  is  a  good  deal  said  and  written  about  insti- 
tutional work,  about  preaching  the  Gospel  as  a  wit- 
ness. All  these  are  important,  but  the  aim  is  that 
of  beseeching  men  in  Christ's  stead  to  be  reconciled 
to  God.  The  medical  missionary  as  well  as  the 
preacher  should  keep  in  sight  the  supreme  aim,  and 
the  man  who  is  called  to  lay  foundations,  and  even 
he  whose  work  is  that  of  removing  rubbish  out  of 
the  way  that  the  foundations  may  be  laid,  should 
have  in  view  the  one  fact  that  there  are  before  him 


MISSION  METHODS  213 

millions  of  souls  whom  he  will  meet  before  the 
throne  of  God,  and  whom  it  is  his  duty  to  win  to 
Christ. 

"  2 — In  Order  to  Win  Souls,  the  first  thing 
humanly  speaking,  is  to  secure  their  confidence,  and 
this  means  that  one  should  come  as  near  to  them 
as  possible,  should  placate  them,  should  learn  to  re- 
spect them  and  to  establish  the  relation  of  mutual 
respect.  It  is  a  mistaken  idea  that  one  goes  forth 
with  the  Gospel  simply  to  preach  it  at  the  people, 
whether  they  will  or  whether  they  forbear.  All  the 
force  of  a  sanctified  personality  should  be  brought 
to  bear,  else  it  might  be  better  to  simply  send  them 
copies  of  the  written  Word.  The  advantage  of  the 
living  preacher  lies  in  his  living  fellowship,  and  the 
measure  of  his  work  will  be  generally  in  accordance 
with  the  intensity  of  his  desire. 

"  3 — Respect  the  Convictions  of  the  Heathen, 
however  erroneous  these  convictions  may  be.  Re- 
member that  generally  they  are  sincere.  There 
should  be  no  blundering  in  methods  of  preaching, 
there  should  be  nothing  like  contempt  or  an  effort  to 
make  them  see  the  absurdity  or  grotesqueness  of 
their  beliefs.  This  should  be  done  by  instruction, 
by  showing  them  better  ways.  I  think  there  has 
been  a  mistake  in  all  missionary  circles  in  these 
years  that  are  past,  in  the  fact  that  so  contemptuous 
treatment  has  been  given  to  idolatry. 

"  4 — Another  Means  of  Success  is  found  in  over- 
coming, as  far  as  possible,  the  social  barriers  be- 
tween the  missionary  and  the  people.  It  is  unfortu- 
nate that  our  civilization  is  on  so  much  higher  a 


214         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

plane  than  that  of  the  heathen  nations.  There  is  a 
sharp  contrast  between  our  conquest  and  that  of  the 
early  churches.  I  think  that  one  of  the  very  greatest 
handicaps  that  weighs  upon  the  missionary  work  in 
our  time  is  just  this.  Even  the  plainest  type  of  liv- 
ing for  a  missionary  is,  in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen, 
the  highest  and  most  worldly  of  self-indulgent  lux- 
ury. In  one  form  or  another  this  difficulty  comes 
up  again  and  again.  .  .  .  The  missionary  must 
show  that  notwithstanding  the  different  status  he 
is  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  people,  is  not  averse 
to  receiving  their  hospitality,  that  he  knows  how 
to  enter  into  their  wants,  while  there  are  some  un- 
doubtedly who  stand  up  and  look  upon  the  heathen 
as  an  inferior  order  of  being. 

"  5 — Not  Only  Rccogni::c  the  Truth,  which  un- 
doubtedly is  to  be  found  in  fragments  in  the  re- 
ligions of  heathen,  but  make  use  of  that  truth  as 
a  sort  of  poll  sto.  A  keen-minded  traveller  has 
drawn  an  illustration  on  this  point.  If  you  were 
attempting  to  build  a  fortress  on  some  wind-blown 
and  sea-washed  beach  of  sand,  would  you  not  gladly 
seize  upon  an  outcropping  rock  which  you  might  use 
in  your  foundation  ?  So  whatever  there  be  of  truth, 
ethical  or  otherwise,  in  the  systems  of  the  heathen, 
make  use  of  it.  The  apostles  did  this.  They  rea- 
soned with  the  Jews  out  of  their  own  Scriptures. 
Paul  pursued  the  same  course  on  Mars  Hill  in  taking 
advantage  of  the  altar  to  the  unknown  god,  to 
which  he  gladly  pointed  and  said,  '  Whom  ye  igno- 
rantly  worship  Him  declare  I  unto  you.'  He  found 
also  one  point  in  common  between  the  Gospel  and 


Frank  Field  Ellinwood 
When  about  seventy  years  of  age 


ATTITUDE  TO  OTHER  RELIGIONS    215 

the  heathen  poetry  of  Eratus,  where  the  latter  said, 
'  We  have  Zeus,  we  are  his  offspring.'  In  the  early 
church  the  wisest  and  saintliest  followed  the  example 
of  the  apostles.  Augustine  speaks  most  appreciat- 
ively of  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  and  of  the  fact 
that  something  from  the  pen  of  Cicero  which  he 
read,  embodying  the  stoic  and  Platonic  philosophy, 
was  the  means  in  the  hand  of  God's  spirit  of  trans- 
forming his  desires,  and  leading  him  to  see  the 
worthlessness  of  the  desires  which  he  had  cherished 
in  comparison  with  a  longing  to  know  God.  He 
speaks  of  these  lessons  which  he  and  others  had 
learned  through  the  illustration  of  the  gold  and  the 
silver  which  the  Israelites  found  in  Egypt  and  bore 
away  for  the  adornment  of  the  true  tabernacle  of 
God.  '  All  truth,'  he  said,  '  wherever  found,  be- 
longs to  God,  and  if  we  spoil  the  Egyptians  for 
the  sake  of  God's  temple,  we  are  only  acting  the 
part  of  wise  and  tactful  men.' 

"  6 — Study  the  Systems  of  the  Heathen." 

It  was  in  this  matter  that  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  a 
pioneer  in  our  country.  He  began  early  his  study 
of  the  non-Christian  religions.  It  seemed  to  him 
that  a  missionary  secretary  could  very  poorly  per- 
form his  duty  as  a  missionary  advocate  at  home  or 
a  missionary  administrator  abroad,  if  he  did  not 
know  the  non-Christian  religions.  As  he  went  on 
with  these  studies  and  urged  others  to  them,  some 
people  were  disturbed.  They  feared  the  effects  of 
the  introduction  of  the  study  of  comparative  reli- 
gion.    But  Dr.  Ellinwood  was  never  afraid  of  any 


2i6         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

truth.  He  was  sure  that  all  truth  was  of  God  and 
that  the  Missionary  Movement  would  gain  and  not 
lose  from  an  open-minded  attitude  toward  the  Ori- 
ental religious  systems.  He  was  much  encouraged 
in  his  purpose  by  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  N.  G. 
Clark,  Secretary  of  the  American  Board,  who  wrote 
shortly  after  Dr.  Ellinwood  had  begun  his 
lectures : — 

"  I  beg  to  assure  you  of  my  great  pleasure  in 
the  work  you  are  doing  in  broadening  the  scope 
and  aims  of  our  missionary  effort.  It  is  not  now 
as  it  was  when  we  began  our  works  as  secretaries. 
The  questions  now  pending  are  quite  differenjt.  The 
age  of  beginnings  is  past.  We  are  meeting  ob- 
jectors in  the  foreign  field  whom  we  have  educated 
and  trained  to  an  ability  to  oppose  the  very  Gospel 
which  has  given  them  their  culture  and  character. 
In  the  general  advance  of  civilization  and  of  scien- 
tific studies  the  world  over,  and  by  the  frequent 
communication  with  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  ene- 
mies of  the  truth  are  enjoying  the  same  advantages 
with  ourselves  in  the  wide  diffusion  of  their  ideas. 
I  am  sure  that  there  is  no  better  work  that  you  can 
do  than  that  you  are  now  doing,  by  calling  the  at- 
tention of  all  friends  of  missions  to  the  importance 
of  a  most  thorough  mastery  of  heathen  systems 
of  thought,  and  to  a  just  comparison  of  those  sys- 
tems with  Christianity.  This  work  is  different  from 
simply  preaching  the  Gospel  to  a  few  individuals 
whom  you  may  gather  around  you  at  some  mission 
station.     It  is  different  from  the  general  work  of 


HIS  PROFESSORSHIP  217 

education  in  which  we  are  seeking  to  prepare  men 
to  become  native  helpers.  It  follows  on  to  com- 
pleting the  matter  by  raising  up  men  here  in  this 
country  who  are  competent  to  meet  the  various 
questions  which  are  now  pressing  on  the  attention 
of  Christians  the  world  over,  and  to  enable  them 
in  their  time  to  raise  up  a  body  of  native  preachers 
and  professors." 

In  1887  he  took  up,  accordingly,  in  addition  to  his 
secretarial  duties,  the  professorship  of  comparative 
religion  in  the  University  of  New  York.  Narrowly 
limited  in  his  physical  resources  he  did  not  do  this 
without  consulting  his  doctor  as  to  his  ability  to 
do  the  work  without  impairment  of  health  or  ability 
to  fulfil  his  duty  to  the  Board,  and  he  sought,  also, 
the  Board's  assent  as  to  his  undertaking  the  new 
work.  Both  the  doctor  and  the  Board  approved, 
and  he  began  a  unique  and  valuable  service  to  edu- 
cation in  America  and  to  the  cause  of  Missions.  He 
organized  the  American  Society  for  the  Study  of 
Oriental  Religions,  and  he  gave  annually  a  course 
of  lectures  in  his  professorship  which  were  grate- 
fully acknowledged  by  those  who  took  them  to  have 
been  among  the  great  intellectual  and  spiritual  expe- 
riences of  their  lives.  Three  letters  from  ministers, 
the  first  of  them  an  Episcopal  rector  who  had  moved 
away  from  New  York,  but  is  now  minister  of  one 
of  its  leading  churches,  must  suffice,  though  many 
others  could  be  quoted  to  show  what  his  course  did 
for  men. 


2i8         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

"  The  fall  days  remind  me  of  the  reopening  of 
your  work  in  Comparative  Religion  at  the  Uni- 
versity. I  cannot  express  to  you  how  much  I  wish 
I  were  where  I  could  continue  the  study  with  you, 
nor  how  much  benefit  the  attention  already  given 
to  it  has  been  to  me.  The  hold  such  work  takes 
upon  one  is  so  gradual  that  it  is  not  until  afterwards 
that  he  fully  realizes  the  great  profit  of  it.  I  am 
sure  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  me  say  that  the  lines 
of  thought  we  followed  when  together  crop  out 
everywhere  in  my  thinking,  in  my  reading,  in  my 
writing.  At  most  unexpected  times  they  come  upon 
me  like  a  flash,  and  no  reference  to  them  in  print  or 
in  conversation  escapes  me,  but  is  jotted  down  where 
it  belongs  in  the  outline  so  admirably  presented  in 
the  class.  I  am  personally  indebted  to  you  and  to 
the  University,  for  I  do  not  know  where  else  the 
same  work  is  done. 

"  In  thanking  you  for  it  all,  let  me  hope  for  abun- 
dant prosperity  in  continuing  the  same  to  the  benefit 
of  all  who  shall  engage  in  it." 

"  I  desire  to  express  to  you  my  high  appreciation 
of  the  course  of  study  in  heathen  religions  and  phi- 
losophies, through  which  I  have  gone  with  you 
during  the  past  year.  It  has  seemed  to  me  one 
of  the  most  helpful  post-graduate  lines  of  work 
that  a  minister  can  possibly  take.  The  facts  and 
thoughts  which  it  presents  are  almost  or  quite  essen- 
tial to  pulpit  work.  Its  bearing  upon  the  great 
work  of  foreign  missions, — the  grand  call  of  the 
Church  in  these  days, — is  most  close.  It  opens  up 
a  world  of  thought.     Incidentally  it  furnishes  an 


AS  A  TEACHER  2ig 

inexhaustible  fund  of  illustration  for  pulpit  use. 
I  speak  from  the  standpoint  of  a  minister  in  active 
work — it  is  a  most  delightful  side  study,  interweav- 
ing itself  with  every  line  of  pulpit  effort. 

"  But  it  has  a  deeper  interest  and  importance.  In 
these  later  times  one  of  the  great  lines  of  attempted 
attack  on  Christianity  is  by  a  revival  of  '  heathen  ' 
thought  and  by  misleading  comparisons  of  the  re- 
ligions of  Central  and  Eastern  Asia  with  that  from 
Judaea.  The  Church  at  large  is  not  aware  of  the 
importance  of  this  movement.  I  know  of  no  syste- 
matic attempt  in  this  country  to  meet  this  need, 
other  than  this  course  of  instruction  in  which  you 
so  admirably  lead. 

**  I  feel  deeply  grateful  that  I  have  been  able  to  be 
with  you  in  this." 

**  I  wish  to  express  to  you  my  thankfulness  for 
the  benefit  derived  from  your  lectures  in  the  Uni- 
versity in  Comparative  Religion,  Course  iii.  I  am 
frank  to  confess  that  had  I  known  you  would  con- 
sider the  philosophy  of  religion  I  would  not  have 
joined  the  class,  because  while  in  college  in  1882, 
lectures  on  the  history  of  philosophy  so  confused 
me  that  I  came  to  have  a  dislike  for  the  subject. 
I  soon  saw  that  you  were  going  over  the  same 
ground  I  had  determined  never  again  to  attempt 
to  tread,  but  having  once  started  I  would  not  turn 
back. 

"  The  course  has  been  filled  with  hard  work,  but 
what  a  delight  it  has  been  to  me !  The  subjects  have 
been  presented  in   such  a  comprehensive,   concise 


220         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

and  clear  manner  that  by  faithful  work  one  can  get 
a  good  idea  of  the  whole  field  of  philosophy  in  its 
relation  to  religion. 

"  By  means  of  your  lectures  and  my  study  and 
reading  in  connection  with  them,  my  former  dis- 
taste for  the  subject  has  been  replaced  by  such  an 
interest  that  I  intend  to  pursue  the  course  farther 
as  one  of  my  studies  in  Berlin  the  coming  fall.  The 
impetus  given  me  in  the  post-graduate  Seminary 
of  the  university  has  had  much  to  do  with  my  de- 
cision to  study  in  Germany  for  a  year  or  two." 

His  courtesy,  large-mindedness,  evangelical 
fidelity,  and  philosophical  freedom  of  spirit  and 
amplitude  of  knowledge  made  his  class  work  a 
unique  experience  to  his  students. 

His  sympathetic  study  of  the  non-Christian  re- 
ligions affected  all  his  thinking  and  speaking  on 
missions,  and  it  exerted  a  wide  influence  in  this  coun- 
try. People  saw  that  instead  of  weakening  mis- 
sionary zeal  and  evangelical  faith,  such  a  study  in- 
terested and  inspired  them.  This  was  the  growing 
effect  on  his  own  mind.  He  knew  that  Christianity 
had  nothing  to  fear  from  the  most  merciless  com- 
parison with  the  world's  religions.  He  did  not  like 
the  Parliament  of  Religions  in  Chicago,  not  because 
it  brought  the  religions  of  the  world  into  compari- 
son, but  precisely  because  it  did  not  do  so,  but 
imposed  upon  the  West  untrue  representations  of 
the  Oriental  religions,  and  proclaimed  a  fictitious 
brotherhood. 


PARLIAMENT  OF  RELIGIONS      221 

"  The  speakers,"  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Barrows  in  a 
long  letter,  just  before  Dr.  Barrows  went  to  India 
as  Haskell  lecturer,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Dr.  Bar- 
rows, "  presented  only  mixtures  of  Oriental  phi- 
losophies with  western  speculations  and  even 
western  shibboleths  learned  in  the  universities  of 
Bombay  or  Calcutta.  Typical  Hinduism  was  not 
represented.  The  Ceylon  Buddhists  made  a  better 
show,  but  it  was  that  of  a  Godless  system  from 
which  Christianity  has  nothing  to  fear. 

"  The  chief  difficulty  with  the  parliament  to  my 
mind  was  the  vague  proclamation  of  a  brotherhood 
of  religions.  Judging  by  your  sermon  you  mean  by 
brotherhood  something  very  different  from  what 
Mozoomdar  meant,  or  Darmapala,  or  any  of  our 
American  friends  who  regard  Christ  not  as  a  living 
being  or  an  atoning  sacrifice,  but  only  as  a  teacher 
somewhat  greater  than  Confucius.  There  can  be 
no  religious  brotherhood  without  at  least  an  ap- 
proximate unity  of  religion,  and  this  cannot  be 
found  in  the  existing  faiths  and  un faiths  of  the 
world.  Religious  unity  must  centre  in  God,  one 
God  and  the  only  God,  recognized  by  all.  Between 
Polytheists  and  Monotheists  how  can  there  be  a 
religious  brotherhood  ?  Between  Jews  who  worship 
the  one  Jehovah,  and  the  Buddhists  who  avow  their 
disbelief  in  any  personal  God,  how  can  there  be  a 
theistic  basis  of  unity  or  brotherhood  ? 

"  I  somewhere  saw  Paul  Cams'  article  on  the 
*  Parliament  Extensions  '  and  proposing  Monism  as 
a  common  basis  for  the  universal  religion.  I  was 
surprised  to  see  what  a  following  he  claimed.     I 


222         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

am  frank  to  say  that  I  dissent  from  all  such  com- 
pacts. Monism  may  add  personality  to  the  current 
Pantheism,  but  it  will  still  leave  the  groping  souls 
of  men  in  a  nebulous  haze;  it  points  them  to  the 
Milky  Way  instead  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness — 
the  true  light  of  the  world.  If  this  new  Gospel  is 
to  have  any  influence  at  all,  it  will  be  fatal  not  only 
to  Foreign  Missions  but  in  its  last  logical  result 
fatal  to  our  Christianity  here  at  home.  I  also  pro- 
test against  the  assumption  constantly  presented  or 
implied  by  the  advocates  of  the  new  gospel — and 
most  emphatically  and  persistently  by  Theosophists 
— that  the  Christian  Church  and  its  missionaries 
are  and  always  have  been  a  hindrance  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  brotherhood  of  mankind.  If  a  brother- 
hood of  humanity  growing  out  of  our  relation  to  a 
common  Father  or  Creator  is  meant,  then  Christian- 
ity was  the  first  to  give  that  conception  currency, 
Peter,  Paul,  and  even  Christ  Himself  plainly  taught 
it  as  against  the  narrowness  of  Judaism  and  the 
teachings  of  even  Plato.  And  to-day  the  best  and 
almost  the  only  practical  promoters  of  universal 
humanity — whether  in  hospitals  or  orphanages  or 
in  famine  relief,  to  men  of  all  races,  are  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Christian  Church;  and  those  angels 
of  mercy  who  minister  comfort  and  help  amid  the 
smoke  and  din  of  the  battlefield  bear  the  ensign  of 
the  Cross. 

*'  If,  secondly,  the  brotherhood  which  springs 
from  union  in  Christ,  and  the  only  brotherhood 
which  implies  Divine  and  transforming  power  and 
likeness  to  the  Son  of  God  is  meant,  the  Church 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  BROTHERHOOD   223 

alone  represents  and  promotes  it;  and  this  is  the 
great  aim  of  Christian  Missions.  Paul  recognized 
both  of  these  conceptions  of  brotherhood,  but  he 
kept  them  distinct.  He  regarded  the  borrowed 
slave,  Onesimus,  as  a  son  of  a  common  Creator, 
and  as  one  for  whom  Christ  had  died,  and  his  sym- 
pathetic interest  won  him  to  the  Cross.  But  this 
was  a  very  different  brotherhood  which  he  con- 
templated in  his  letter  to  Philemon,  in  which  he 
reminded  him  that  Onesimus  was  now  *  no  longer 
a  servant  but  a  brother.' 

"  If,  thirdly,  the  brotherhood  is  to  be  one,  and  not 
so  much  of  men  as  of  religions, — reducing  them  to 
the  one  dead  level  of  Monism,  ignoring  both  the 
first  and  the  second  of  my  category,  neither  preach- 
ing any  definite  glad  tidings  for  the  soul,  nor  pro- 
viding healing  or  relief  for  the  body,  then  I  must 
dissent.  It  will  not  only  prove  destitute  of  that  re- 
generative power  which  the  world  so  much  needs, 
but  it  will  be  paralyzing.  Its  first  virtual  message 
will  be,  '  Ye  shall  not  surely  die.' 

"  Of  my  earnest  and  repeated  advocacy  of  a  can- 
did, charitable,  conciliatory,  and  even  fraternal 
spirit  and  method  in  dealing  with  the  heathen  and 
their,  to  them,  sacred  faiths,  I  need  not  remind  you; 
but  the  great  Unity  is  of  Christ's  Eternal  Kingdom." 

Toward  the  close  of  his  work,  in  1901,  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood  summarized  in  one  of  his  papers  the  change 
he  had  witnessed  in  the  attitude  of  the  Church  to- 
ward the  study  of  Oriental  systems : — 

"  I  have  witnessed  within  recent  years  and  with 


224        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

great  satisfaction  the  changed  attitude  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  of  every  name  toward  non-Christian 
religions.  As  early  as  1872  the  late  Dean  Stanley 
in  a  sermon  delivered  in  Westminster  Abbey  spoke 
of  this  change  as  one  of  the  auspicious  indications 
in  the  missionary  outlook  of  the  world.  But  the 
public  mind  was  not  thoroughly  aroused  to  the  im- 
portance of  this  thing  until  the  Church  was  scared, 
so  to  speak,  by  the  publication  of  Edwin  Arnold's 
*  Light  of  Asia/  It  was  such  a  clever  and  plausible 
attempt  to  eclipse,  or  at  least  rival,  the  Christian 
faith  and  turn  a  flank  movement  upon  its  mission- 
ary propagandism,  that  very  few  persons  were  able 
to  answer  it  even  in  their  own  minds.  It  was  not 
by  any  means  the  first  specious  presentation  of 
Oriental  religions  in  Europe  and  America.  Much 
had  been  written  in  various  forms  to  the  same  in- 
tent, but  this  by  its  great  popularity  created  a  pro- 
found impression,  yet  most  people  clung  to  the  old 
method  of  denouncing  all  the  Oriental  faiths  as 
mere  superstitions,  unworthy  of  our  study,  illus- 
trating missionary  lectures  and  sermons  by  grim 
idols,  with  the  implication  that  these  senseless 
things  were  the  sum  total  of  what  heathenism  could 
show. 

"  When  I  was  called  a  dozen  years  ago  to  lecture 
once  a  week  on  *  The  Relations  of  Oriental  Religions 
to  Christianity  and  the  Work  of  Missions,'  there 
were  very  few  who  recognized  the  necessity  for  any 
such  superfluous  service.  The  late  Secretary  Clark, 
of  the  American  Board,  urged  me  forward  with  the 
argument  that  in  his  opinion  there  was  just  then  no 


MISSIONARY  POLEMICS  225 

greater  need  in  the  broad  outlook  of  the  missionary 
conquest  of  the  world  than  that  the  Church  should 
be  brought  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  false 
systems  to  be  overthrown,  and  of  directing  mission- 
ary effort  intelligently,  or  as  Sir  William  W.  Hun- 
ter expressed  it,  '  fighting  with  weapons  of  pre- 
cision.' 

"  When  the  late  Baron  Hardy  Hickey  published  a 
four-column  article  in  the  New  York  Herald  de- 
signed to  show  that  Christianity  was  an  essential 
plagiarism  from  the  earlier  history  and  doctrine  of 
Gautama  Buddha,  and  I  attempted  a  reply  and  sent 
it  to  our  missionary  magazine,  it  was  returned  to 
me  with  the  remark  that  there  was  no  danger  of 
Christian  people  being  disturbed  about  Buddhism. 
The  reply  was  published,  however,  in  the  Mail  and 
Express  and  Dr.  Paxton  of  Princeton  having  read  it, 
urged  its  publication  in  a  leaflet  to  be  sent  to  every 
minister  in  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  en- 
closed a  check  for  $25.00  toward  defraying  the  ex- 
pense. I  believe  that  now  there  is  not  a  considerable 
Theological  Seminary  in  the  country  which  does  not, 
in  the  sphere  of  apologetics,  give  more  or  less  atten- 
tion to  comparative  religions,  and  I  understand  that 
at  the  time  of  the  death  of  our  missionary,  Dr.  S.  H. 
Kellogg  of  India,  a  movement  was  on  foot  to  elect 
him,  on  an  endowment,  to  a  Chair  of  Comparative 
Religions  in  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. 

"  During  the  late  Conference  two  masterly  ad- 
dresses were  given  along  similar  lines  by  Drs.  Rob- 
son  of  Edinburgh  and  Purves  of  this  city.  Some 
words  from  the  latter  you  were  permitted  to  hear 


226        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

in  this  place  on  Saturday  morning,  last.  When  the 
proud  and  arrogant  systems  of  non-Christian  belief, 
which  are  rife  in  our  day,  shall  be  as  thoroughly 
understood  as  are  the  mythologies  and  philosophies 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  there  will  be  no  more  fear 
of  them  from  the  Christian  standpoint  than  there 
is  of  those  classics  which  every  schoolboy  is  ex- 
pected to  study;  and  then  our  missionaries  will  go 
to  their  mission  fields  equipped  and  prepared  for 
the  keen  dialectics  with  which  heathen  assailants 
have  sometimes  worsted  them." 

From  the  beginning  of  his  work  he  opened  his 
interest  to  take  in  the  activities  of  all  Christian 
agencies.  To  him  more  than  to  any  other  one  man 
is  due  the  Annual  Conference  of  Foreign  Mission 
Boards  of  the  United  States  and  Canada.  He  was 
the  leading  spirit  in  the  early  conferences,  and  no 
voice  was  waited  for  with  more  confidence  in  all 
discussions  of  difficult  problems.  Every  one  trusted 
his  calm,  unperturbed  judgment,  free  from  all  flight- 
iness,  from  all  self-illusion,  from  all  deflecting  and 
petty  prejudice. 

"  My  experience,"  he  told  the  Conference  of  New 
Missionaries  in  1901,  just  after  the  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference, "  in  the  study  of  missionary  operations  in 
all  these  years  has  greatly  enlarged  in  me  the  spirit 
of  toleration  toward  those  bodies  of  Christians  who 
differ  from  my  own  with  respect  to  minor  things. 
Though  a  Calvinist  more  and  more  in  my  philosophy 
of  religion,  and  a  Presbyterian  in  polity,   I  have 


HIS  EVANGELICALISM  227 

observed  that  the  divine  blessing  rests  abundantly 
upon  Arminians  as  well  as  Calvinists;  upon  High 
Church  and  Low  Church;  upon  Prelatists  and  upon 
the  democracy  of  the  congregation;  on  Pedo-Bap- 
tists  and  immersionists ;  upon  lovers  of  high  ritual, 
and  the  simplest  and  most  unobtrusive  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends. 

"  Without  yielding  in  any  degree  the  doctrines 
which  seem  to  me  logical  and  clear,  I  have  been  con- 
strained to  believe  that  there  is  indeed  '  a  wideness 
in  God's  mercy  like  the  wideness  of  the  sea,'  and 
that  the  great  tide  of  salvation  flows  over  many 
fences  and  landmarks  and  walls  of  division. 

"  What  a  blessed  thing  it  was  in  our  recent  Con- 
ference that  men  with  so  many  shades  of  belief, 
with  such  varying  forms  of  worship  and  methods 
of  work,  could  for  ten  days  lay  aside  their  non- 
essentials and  agree  to  study  and  ponder  the  things 
in  which  all  were  agreed,  and  to  pray  together  and 
rejoice  together  over  the  triumphs  in  which  all  were 
permitted  to  have  a  share.  But  harmony  would  be 
a  very  different  thing  if  it  involved  the  casting  down 
of  essential  barriers  between  truth  and  fatal  error. 
As  Dr.  Purves  well  said  on  Saturday,  the  work 
of  Evangelical  Missions  cannot  be  successfully  car- 
ried on  upon  Unitarian  or  Universalist  grounds. 
These  denominations  have  existed  through  all  this 
closing  century  of  missions;  yet  where  have  they 
substantial  results  to  show  on  heathen  soil?  It  is 
around  Christ  as  very  God  and  very  man;  Christ 
as  a  mediatorial  and  vicarious  Saviour;  Christ  as 
the  Head  of  the  Church  and  Captain  of  our  salva- 


228         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

tion;  Christ  as  an  intercessor  able  to  save  unto  the 
uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God  by  Him;  Christ 
as  everywhere  present  through  His  Spirit  in  the 
hearts  of  His  people, — it  is  around  Him  that 
evangelical  missions  gather  and  marshal  themselves 
for  conquest;  and  it  is  well  to  have  learned  that  He 
welcomes  the  sincere  efforts  of  all  who  thus  fully 
trust  in  Him,  reminding  us  as  He  reminded  His 
disciples  of  old,  that  whoever  is  not  against  Him 
gathereth  the  fruits  of  His  Kingdom." 

This  deep  evangelical  conviction  was  the  root  of 
his  life  and  work.  All  that  he  ever  did  he  did  in 
faith  in  Christ  and  with  the  loyal  purpose  to  exalt 
Him.  This  gave  to  all  that  he  wrote  or  spoke  a 
flavour  of  spiritual  sincerity,  which  breathed  through 
even  his  formal  reports.  Thus  Dr.  H.  B.  Silliman 
wrote  to  him  in  1899,  after  reading  the  draft  of  his 
report  to  the  Presbyterian  Alliance  as  chairman  of 
its  missionary  section : — 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  Northfield,  and  not  to 
delay  further  the  return  of  the  enclosed  paper,  I 
have  devoted  my  first  time  to  the  perusal  of  your 
report. 

"  It  seems  like  a  continuance  of  the  rich  spiritual 
feast  which  I  have  enjoyed,  and  my  faith  in  Missions 
and  zeal  in  the  great  cause  have  been  strengthened 
by  it. 

"  I  do  not  find  anything  to  correct  nor  to  suggest 
in  relation  to  the  report.  And  you  know  me  too 
well  to  think  I  mean  to  flatter  when  I  say  I  thank 


CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  229 

God  that  the  church,  and  especially  our  branch  of  it, 
has  a  man  with  such  complete  knowledge  of  the 
subject  and  the  ability  to  present  it  in  such  attractive 
form.  May  the  Master  use  it  for  the  advancement 
of  His  Kingdom." 

He  was  a  sincere,  manly,  genuine  Christian,  who 
meditated  day  and  night  upon  truth  and  who  lived 
in  prayer.  Among  his  papers  was  found  a  clear 
analysis  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  which  he 
has  summarized  each  section  in  the  terms  of  a  prin- 
ciple, and  it  was  by  these  principles  that  he  lived. 
Those  whose  offices  adjoined  his  and  who  saw  him 
daily  testify  that  he  practised  these  principles.  He 
always  sought  for  the  truth  and  was  ready  to  learn 
it  from  any  quarter.  As  younger  men  came  to  be 
associated  with  him  he  treated  them  with  absolute 
fairness;  always  placing  them  on  an  equality  with 
himself  and  always  disregarding  any  idea  of  author- 
ity because  of  his  seniority  or  his  ability.  He  was 
utterly  devoid  of  the  spirit  of  self-seeking,  self- 
exaltation,  or  selfish  ambition.  He  was  the  soul 
of  honour  and  high-mindedness  and  generosity. 
He  held  aloof  from  all  ecclesiastical  politics.  He 
lived  above  all  smallness  and  selfishness.  He  exem- 
plified the  loftiness  of  mind  of  which  Daniel  sings 
in  his  Epistle  to  the  Duchess  of  Cumberland : — 

"  He  that  of  such  a  height  has  built  his  mind 

And  reared  the  dwelling  of  his  thoughts  so  strong 
As  neither  fear  nor  hope  can  shake  the  frame 
Of  his  resolved  powers,  nor  all  the  wind 


230         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Of  vanity  or  malice  pierce  to  wrong 
His  settled  peace,  or  to  disturb  the  same — 
What  a  fair  seat  hath  he,  from  whence  he  may 
The  boundless  wastes  and  wealds  of  man  survey! 

"And  with  how  free  an  eye  doth  he  look  down 

Upon  these  lower  regions  of  turmoil ! 

Where  all  the  streams  of  passion  mainly  beat 
On  flesh  and  blood ;  where  honour,  power,  renown, 

Are  only  gay  afflictions,  golden  toil ; 

Where  greatness  stands  upon  as  feeble  feet 
As  frailty  doth,  and  only  great  doth  seem 
To  little  minds  who  do  it  so  esteem." 

But  he  was  not  removed  from  human  sympathies. 
He  felt  the  burden  of  the  world's  woe  and  sin.  It 
was  for  the  lifters  of  that  burden  that  he  lived. 
Attractive  calls  to  service  which  he  felt  were  more 
remote  from  the  whole  world's  need  than  his  secre- 
taryship, were  pressed  on  him  in  vain. 

As  the  years  passed  on  toward  the  end  he  was 
physically  incapacitated  for  active  work,  but  his 
mind  was  unshaken.  And  it  was  wonderful  to 
watch  the  eagle  spirit  soar  aloft  above  the  wreck 
of  its  dwelling  place  and  survey  the  far-surging 
forces  of  God  at  work  upon  the  world,  and  pierce 
at  times  almost  through  the  veil  into  the  eternity 
for  which  every  day  the  soul  was  repining.  He 
could  not  write  with  his  own  hand,  but  from  his 
whispered  dictation  letters  were  written  from  which 
these  quotations  are  taken : 

"  I  cannot  urge  the  plea  '  too  busy,'  for  I  am  ut- 
terly useless;  but  my  family,  by  whose  help  I  carry 


LETTERS  231 

on  correspondence,  have  been  occupied  and  weary 
by  the  cares  of  getting  settled. 

"  This  morning  good  Dr.  Phraner  sends  me  a 
copy  of  the  Assembly's  action  expressing  sympathy 
for  me  in  my  infirmity  and  decline,  and  its  apprecia- 
tion of  the  supposed  service  which  I  may  have  ren- 
dered to  Foreign  Missions. 

"  I  am  so  sensible  of  shortcomings  that  any  com- 
mendation increases  my  self-rebuke.  Still,  I  appre- 
ciate most  highly  the  kindly  sentiments  of  brethren 
toward  me. 

"  I  most  highly  approve  of  the  plan  you  are  form- 
ing in  the  adjustment  of  the  Secretaryships.  You 
know  I  have  always  favoured  a  distribution  of  the 
Mission  fields,  in  order  that  the  opportunities  and 
influence  of  each  Secretary  may  subtend  the  whole 
great  work  at  home  and  abroad.  He  should  be  a 
complete  link  of  communication  between  the  Church 
and  the  Mission  force  at  the  front.  A  foreign  cor- 
respondent and  administrator,  if  excused  from  all 
share  in  enkindling  home  interest  and  raising  funds, 
will  become  academic  and  diplomatic;  while  the 
Home  Secretary  will  feel  handicapped  and  subordi- 
nated and  will  grow  weary  of  the  monotony  of  his 
narrow  sphere. 

"  What  a  great,  complicated  and  sublime  enter- 
prise has  the  Divine  Providence  entrusted  to  you 
and  your  associates.  I  have  confidence  in  its  suc- 
cess because  divinely  directed. 

"  Your  very  last  letter,  with  its  statement  of  the 
Board's  action  in  appointing  me  Secretary  Emeritus, 
has  touched  me, — has  touched  us  all  very  deeply. 


232         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

The  question  of  accepting  my  resignation  was  very- 
kindly  and  considerately  handled,  and  the  course 
marked  out  for  the  future  is  all  that  I  could  wish. 
I  am  sending  to  Dr.  Alexander  an  expression  of 
my  gratitude  to  the  Board  for  its  great  kindness 
to  me,  past,  present  and  prospective. 

"  The  23rd  and  103rd  Psalms  have  been  exempli- 
fied and  verified  in  my  case.  I  feel  that  I  do  not 
go  down  into  the  dark  valley  comfortless  and  alone. 

"  Day  after  to-morrow  I  shall,  if  spared,  complete 
my  nine  times  nine." 

"  I  was  glad  of  your  extended  and  interesting  tour 
on  the  Pacific  Coast.  Events  of  the  last  year  have 
shown  that  in  religion,  and  still  more  in  politics, 
California  must  be  held  in  close  and  vital  union  with 
the  best  sentiment  and  character  of  the  Atlantic 
Slope.  The  most  notable  example  of  this  need  is 
seen  in  the  wholesale  bribery  and  corruption  of  city 
officials  and  business  corporations,  by  Abraham 
Ruef  and  others.  The  Anti- Japanese  movement 
presents  only  one  phase  of  the  Oriental  problems 
that  now  confront  us.  Not  only  is  this  hostile  senti- 
ment likely  to  create  an  inimical  feeling  toward  all 
Americans,  but  it  will  stimulate  Japan  to  multiply 
her  naval  resources. 

"  It  points  to  a  time  when  in  business  spheres, 
both  China  and  Japan  will  defy  the  competition  of 
American  commerce,  both  on  land  and  sea. 

"  Their  more  frugal  habits  and  better  economy  of 
expenditure  will  enable  them  to  drive  our  means  of 
transportation  off  the  Pacific. 

"  It  seems  impossible  that  nearly  a  year  has  passed 


OPINION  OF  JAPANESE  233 

since  I  presented  my  resignation.  I  could  hardly 
have  expected  to  survive  till  the  present  time,  for 
really  it  is  with  me  a  process  of  gradual  decay;  I 
may  say  of  death.  Being  now^  utterly  helpless,  I 
marvel  that  so  much  vitality  remains. 

"  Recurring  once  more  to  the  Japanese  problem,  I 
recently  read  '  Bushido,'  which  you  doubtless  have 
seen.  It  is  an  able  book  and  has  a  plausible  argument 
for  those  who  are  not  thoroughly  conversant  with 
the  whole  question.  I  appreciate  the  feudal  code  of 
honour  which  characterized  the  military  power  and 
the  heroic  spirit  of  Japan.  But  the  credit  which  this 
university  professor  accords  is  excessive.  I  felt, 
while  reading  it,  a  wish  that  you  would  write  a  reply 
— not  covering  the  same  ground  exhaustively,  but 
pointing  out  the  significance  of  certain  admissions 
made  by  the  author  himself, — especially  in  the  last 
two  chapters — wherein  it  is  made  very  clear  that 
Bushido  can  never  transform  and  uplift  the  masses. 
And,  secondly,  that  it  is  showing  already  its  inability 
to  face  and  control  the  commercial  spirit  of  the 
twentieth  century.  It  can  never  become  a  mission- 
ary compass.  Already  the  spirit  of  scientific  enquiry 
and  the  alertness  of  Japanese  commercial  enterprise 
are  accomplishing  more  than  the  feudal  pride  of  the 
military  class." 

The  Foreign  Mission  cause  has  been  served  by  a 
long  roll  of  unusual  men,  but  from  the  days  of  Wor- 
cester and  Evarts  and  Swift  and  Lowrie  down  to 
our  own  day,  it  has  had  no  better,  more  capable, 
more  efficient  servant  than  Dr.  Ellinwood. 


XVII 

IN   MEMORIAM 

Tributes  to  Dr.  F.  F.  Ellinwood 

The  Minute  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York  On 
His  Death 

WHEN  Frank  Field  Ellinwood,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  Secretary  Emeritus  of  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  died  at  Cornwall,  Conn.,  on  September  30, 
1908,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of  his  age,  a  great 
missionary  leader  passed  away.  .  .  .  Dr.  Ellin- 
wood did  many  things  beside  a  secretary's  work, 
but  all  that  he  did  had  a  direct  bearing  upon  For- 
eign Missions.  He  led  in  the  formation  of  the 
Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Alliance:  he  may  be 
said  to  have  created  the  two  world  conferences  of 
missionary  societies  which  were  held  in  London 
and  New  York.  He  was  trustee  and  president  of 
Clifton  Springs  Sanitarium,  where  many  a  weary 
missionary  has  found  rest  and  new  vigour;  he 
was  a  trustee  of  the  Canton  Christian  College  for 
many  years,  a  lecturer  in  the  New  York  University 
upon  'Religions  of  the  Orient';  he  wrote  many 
articles  for  the  religious  press  and  published  several 
books;  but  all  that  he  wrote  as  well  as  what  he  did, 
came  within  the  circle  of  his  one  idea  of  Foreign 
Missions — the  world  for  Jesus  Christ.     His  motto 

234 


NEW  YORK  PRESBYTERY  MINUTES     235 

was  not  '  This  one  thing  I  do,'  but  '  All  that  I 
do  is  for  the  glory  of  God.' 

Dr.  Ellinwood  was  not  a  modest  and  retiring  man. 
He  was  a  man  of  decided  convictions,  and  he  had 
a  fearless  courage  and  tenacity  of  purpose  which 
was  born  of  sound  judgment  and  zeal  for  truth. 
But  he  was  entirely  free  from  vanity  or  self-asser- 
tion. His  spirit  was  pure  and  noble,  his  aspirations 
were  for  heavenly  things,  and  his  endeavours  were 
always  and  everywhere  for  the  honour  of  his  Lord 
and  Master  Jesus  Christ.  For  him,  to  live  was 
Christ,  and  when  he  could  no  longer  actively  serve, 
he  was  willing  to  stand  and  wait  patiently,  as  a 
mentor  and  example  of  whatsoever  things  are 
pure,  lovely  and  of  good  report. 

The  Presbytery  of  New  York  records  with  sor- 
row the  death  of  Frank  Field  Ellinwood,  their 
friend  and  associate  for  thirty-six  years,  and  gives 
glory  to  God  who  enabled  him  to  live  for  more 
than  four-score  years  an  unusually  useful  and 
beautiful  Christian  life. 

The  Presbytery  also  desires  to  convey  to  the 
widow  and  family  of  Dr.  Ellinwood  its  official  and 
personal  sympathy  in  this  bereavement  and  to  com- 
mend them  to  divine  consolation." 

Minute  on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Ellinwood  Adopted  by 
the  Woman's  Board  of  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church. 

"  It  is  with  grief  and  a  deep  sense  of  bereave- 
ment that  the  Women's  Board  of  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  record  the  death  of  the  Rev. 


236         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Frank  F.  Ellinwood,  D.D.,  LL.D.  It  was  on  Sep- 
tember 30,  1908,  at  Cornwall,  Conn.,  that  he  passed 
from  his  earthly  home  to  his  '  house  eternal  in  the 
heavens.' 

His  long  life  was  beautiful  in  all  human  charm, 
strong  intellectual  power,  consecrated  service,  and 
loving  loyalty  to  his  Lord  and  Master.  He  lived 
for  the  advance  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  This  was 
his  supreme  interest.  In  its  triumphs  his  soul  re- 
joiced. With  broad  views,  and  a  statesman's  grasp 
of  mind,  he  planned  largely,  and  with  rare  intelli- 
gence, for  its  conquests.  He  knew  the  foes  he  had 
to  meet.  With  an  open  mind  and  careful  study, 
he  learned  to  gauge  the  strength  and  weakness  of 
those  non-Christian  religions  which  have  enthralled 
so  many  millions. 

With  all  this  breadth  of  outlook,  he  was  never- 
theless mindful  of  the  details  of  mission  work,  and 
of  the  humble  efforts  by  which  great  results  are 
attained.  He  cared  for  individual  interests.  The 
missionaries  who  were  in  his  special  charge  will 
long  remember  his  friendliness  and  his  compre- 
hension of  the  often  perplexing  problems  in  their 
personal  lives  and  work.  To  them  we  extend  our 
heartfelt  sympathy,  that  their  wise  counsellor  and 
faithful  friend  will  no  longer  send  them  his  wel- 
come messages. 

The  women  of  our  Board  in  New  York  desire 
to  express  their  appreciation  of  the  privilege  which 
has  been  especially  theirs  of  close  personal  touch 
with  such  a  friend,  whose  wisdom  and  large  experi- 
ence were  ever  available  for  their  help.    He  appre- 


MINUTES  OF  WOMEN'S  BOARDS     237 

ciated  in  an  unusually  sympathetic  way  the  work 
the  women  of  the  Church  are  trying  to  do.  We 
mourn  that  we  shall  see  his  face  and  hear  his  voice 
no  more. 

For  his  colleagues  in  the  stupendous  enterprise 
to  which  his  life  was  given,  we  would  express  our 
sense  of  their  great  loss  and  our  sympathy  in  their 
sorrow. 

To  his  family  we  would  send  our  loving  sym- 
pathy for  their  loneliness,  and  we  pray  that  the 
Comforter  may  speak  to  their  hearts  with  the  cheer 
which  He  alone  can  give.  We  rejoice  with  them 
in  the  noble  life  so  victoriously  passed,  and  in  the 
glorious  anticipations  of  the  future  now  unfolding 
to  the  vision  of  the  one  they  love." 
Minute  Adopted  by  the  Woman's  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Phila- 
delphia. 

"  Whereas  it  has  pleased  our  heavenly  Father 
to  take  home  after  a  long  life  of  usefulness  and 
influence  our  friend  and  co-labourer,  the  Senior  Sec- 
retary of  the  Assembly's  Board,  the  Rev.  Frank 
F.  Ellinwood,  D.D. : 

Therefore  be  it  resolved.  That  we  offer  our  sym- 
pathy to  his  family  and  colleagues  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  and  our  thanks  to  Almighty  God 
for  the  lesson  of  his  rich  life.  His  courtesy,  his 
learning,  his  faithfulness  to  duty  were  unfailing, 
and  we  are  all  under  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  the 
inspiration  of  his  spoken  and  written  words. 

Dr.  Ellinwood  was  of  the  former  days  in  For- 
eign Mission  work  and  he  knew  what  it  was  to  be 


238         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

identified  with  an  unpopular  cause.  But  his  courage 
never  faltered,  and  he  never  flinched  from  any 
call,  nor  from  his  firm  belief  in  the  rightness  and 
far-reaching  purpose  of  the  missionary  work  of  the 
church.  What  a  wise  counsellor  he  was.  How 
prompt  and  explicit  in  answering  letters,  and  how 
patient  with  our  weakness  and  inexperience.  Yet 
he  never  patronized  us,  and  was  always  interested, 
sympathetic,  and  wise.  His  whole  life  was  spent 
for  God  and  his  fellowmen,  and  he  entered  into 
reward  even  before  he  left  us,  for  able  successors 
to  carry  on  his  work,  and  his  advancing  years  saw 
his  mind  not  only  unimpaired,  but  with  even  added 
insight  as  he  seemed  to  catch  the  first  gleam  of 
the  eternal  dawn. 

So  on  September  30,  1908,  at  Cornwall,  Conn., 
he  peacefully  and  hopefully  departed  to  '  love's  own 
country,'  honoured  of  God,  loved  by  his  fellows, 
mourned  by  all  who  knew  him.  The  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  makes  record  of  '  having 
loved  and  lost  awhile,'  this  great  and  good  servant 
of  God,  and  with  their  sympathy  and  love  sends 
a  copy  of  this  minute  to  his  family,  and  the  Assem- 
bly's Board.         (Signed)      Mary  W.  Thorpe. 

President." 

From  the  Conference  of  Foreign  Mission  Boards. 

"  156  Fifth  Avenue^  New  York, 
January  23,  1909. 
My  Dear  Mrs.  Ellinwood : 

In  behalf  of  the  Conference  of  Foreign  Mission 
Boards  and    Societies   in   the   United    States   and 


FOREIGN  MISSION  BOARDS        239 

Canada,  I  desire  to  communicate  to  you  the  Minute 
presented  by  a  special  committee  on  January  14, 
in  commemoration  of  Dr.  Ellinwood : — 

Since  the  last  meeting  of  this  Conference  the 
Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  D.D.,  one  of  the  Secretaries 
of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  the  U.S.A.,  has  been  called  home. 
It  is  most  fitting  that  this  Conference  should  place 
on  record  its  deep  sense  of  loss  in  his  death.  To 
him  more  perhaps  than  to  any  other,  the  Confer- 
ence owes  its  existence.  For  many  years,  and  until 
prevented  by  physical  infirmities,  he  was  a  regular 
and  influential  attendant  upon  its  sessions.  His 
wide  learning  and  profound  knowledge  not  only  of 
the  history  and  principles  of  Missions,  but  of  the 
religions  with  which  Christian  Missions  are  brought 
into  contact,  made  his  contributions  to  the  discus- 
sion of  Mission  problems,  whether  written  or  oral, 
of  the  greatest  value.  The  soundness  of  his  judg- 
ment guided  the  Conference  in  many  times  of  per- 
plexity, and  helped  materially  to  mould  the  charac- 
ter and  policy  of  its  gatherings.  For  his  personal 
character  those  who  have  been  associated  with  him 
here  will  ever  cherish  the  highest  respect,  admira- 
tion and  affection.  We  thank  God  for  him,  and  for 
the  fact  that,  in  the  midst  of  the  physical  infirmity 
of  his  latest  years,  the  eye  of  his  intellect  was  not 
dim  nor  his  spiritual  force  abated;  and  that  he 
steadfastly  looked  forward  to  and  anticipated  the 
triumph  of  the  great  cause  of  making  Christ  known 
to  the  world,  to  which  his  life  was  devoted. 

The  Conference  desires  to  extend  the  assurance 


240         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

of  its  sympathy  to  his  family,  and  to  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  which  he  so  long  and  ably 
served. 

Henry  N.  Cobb,    ) 
John  H.  Prugh,   y  Committee. 
S.  H.  Chester,     ) 
Much  more  might  be  added  to  the  above  expres- 
sion of  our  admiration  and  love. 
Sincerely, 

W.  Henry  Grant, 
Secretary." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  May,  1909,  the  following 
was  submitted  and  adopted  by  the  Assembly : — 

"  The  Standing  Committee  on  Foreign  Missions 
would  respectfully  present  the  following  report: — 

At  the  outset,  we  recall  to  the  attention  of  the 
Assembly  the  loss  to  the  great  cause  of  world  evan- 
gelization in  the  death  of  that  great  Christian  states- 
man, the  veteran  Secretary  of  the  Board,  Dr.  Frank 
Field  Ellinwood,  who  for  thirty-seven  years 
brought  a  breadth  of  vision,  keenness  of  judgment, 
and  genuine  sympathy  with  the  difficulties 
incurred  by  the  workers  at  the  front,  never  sur- 
passed in  the  history  of  the  Board." 

(From  the  New  York  Observer.) 

"  The  entering  class  of  the  New  York  University, 
which  recently  held  its  seventy-sixth  annual  opening 
exercises,  was  the  largest  in  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
versity, numbering  one  hundred  and  fifty  students. 


vTRIBUTE  FROM  PROF.  PENFIELD    241 

The  death  of  the  beloved  professor,  F.  F.  Ellinwood, 
has  cast  a  shadow  over  the  University,  although 
he  had  retired  some  time  ago  from  active  labours 
as  a  teacher.  He  was  a  man  of  rare  mind,  keenest 
logical  power,  varied  learning,  genial  disposition 
and  general  popularity,  and  his  course  in  Oriental 
Religions  was  justly  famous.  Less  well  known 
but  not  the  less  valuable  was  the  course  he  gave  to 
a  smaller  number  of  students  in  the  Philosophy  of 
Religion.  A  man  of  that  scholarly  and  spiritual 
type  is  a  sore  loss,  when  God  calls  him  home,  to  any 
institution." 

At  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  Presbyterian 
Union  of  New  York,  held  in  March,  1909,  the  even- 
ing was  devoted  to  a  centennial  celebration  of 
Chopin  and  Darwin.  Among  the  guests  present  was 
Professor  Smith  N.  Penfield,  who  gave  a  biograph- 
ical sketch  of  Chopin,  illustrating  it  by  piano  selec- 
tions from  the  great  composer. 

We  quote  from  the  New  York  Observer: 

"  In  introducing  the  Funeral  March,  he  said  that 
when  he  was  organist  of  a  church  in  Rochester  of 
which  the  Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  D.D.,  was  pastor, 
he  played  it  at  a  memorial  service  on  the  death  of 
President  Lincoln.  In  1881  when  organist  of  the 
Lafayette  Avenue  Church  in  Brooklyn,  Dr.  Cuyler 
asked  him  to  play  it  at  the  memorial  service  follow- 
ing the  death  of  President  Garfield;  and  in  1901, 
after  the  death  of  President  McKinley  he  played 
it  at  the  memorial  service  held  in  the  West  End 


242         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  Dr.  John  Balcom 
Shaw  was  pastor.  Two  of  the  three  clergymen 
mentioned,  Drs.  Ellinwood  and  Cuyler,  have  also 
passed  away  during  the  last  year,  and  the  speaker 
said  that  as  he  played  the  march  this  time,  he  wished 
to  do  so  partly  as  a  tribute  to  those  two  great  men." 

"  Dr.  Ellinwood  as  a  Friend." 
(Published  in  the  New  York  Observer.) 

"  In  the  various  references  and  tributes  to  Dr. 
Frank  F.  Ellinwood,  which  have  appeared  in  various 
publications,  there  is  one  feature  of  his  work  which 
has  not  been  alluded  to,  so  far  as  I  have  observed; 
and  yet  which  illustrated  his  kindly  and  generous 
nature,  required  a  great  deal  of  time,  and  called 
for  much  self-denying  labour  and  thought. 

I  allude  to  the  personal  service  which  he  rendered 
to  many  foreign  missionaries;  not  as  Secretary  of 
the  P)Oard,  but  as  a  friend  in  looking  out  for  their 
children  when  they  were  sent  home  to  this  country 
to  get  an  education;  in  interesting  generous  Chris- 
tian men  and  women  in  underwriting  the  amount 
necessary  to  put  them  through  school  and  College; 
and  to  seeing  to  the  application  of  these  funds 
when  raised;  not  to  mention  a  still  more  kindly  hos- 
pitality, so  beautifully  seconded  by  his  wife  and 
daughters,  in  receiving  at  their  home  at  different 
holiday  times  the  lonely  and  temporarily  orphaned 
students  in  whom  he  had  taken  an  almost  fatherly 
interest,  and  over  whom  he  acquired  an  almost 
fatherly  influence.    Thirty  years  ago  I  came  to  this 


DR.  ELLINWOOD  AS  A  FRIEND      243 

country  a  boy  of  fourteen,  and  until  I  was  graduated 
at  Princeton  in  1886  I  was  at  school  with  my  brother 
in  Albany  or  at  College  in  Princeton,  and 
every  provision  that  was  made  for  our  expenses 
and  comfort  we  owed  to  Dr.  Ellinwood.  We 
have  never  known  the  names  of  all  those 
kind  people  whom  he  interested  in  the  matter  of 
our  education,  although  we  have  learned  of  some; 
but  I  wish  to  record  in  this  manner  on  behalf  of 
the  many  whom  I  know  are  similarly  situated  the 
debt  of  gratitude  that  can  never  be  measured  nor 
ever  repaid  which  we  owe  to  that  dear  man;  and 
it  must  be  added  that  there  was  never  in  all  the 
years  in  which  we  were  furthered  in  our  education 
by  his  kindness  and  help,  the  slightest  describable 
sense  of  being  burdened  by  our  obligation.  In  look- 
ing back  upon  it  now  it  seems  to  be  as  natural  a 
thing  to  owe  our  education  to  Dr.  Ellinwood,  as 
to  owe  it  to  Father.    .    .    . 

Henry  W.  Jessup." 

The  final  beautiful  tribute  comes  from  that  body 
of  men  with  whom  for  many  years  he  came  in 
closest  contact. 

Minute  Adopted  By  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

"  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  with  deep  and  tender  feeling  records 
the  death  of  its  Senior  Secretary,  Rev.  Frank  F. 
Ellinwood,  Doctor  of  Divinity,  at  his  home  in  Corn- 
wall, Conn.,  Sept.  30,  1908. 


244        FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

In  sympathy  with  his  devoted  family,  it  rejoices 
that  the  rest  for  which  he  sighed  has  been  granted, 
and  that  his  aspiring  soul,  being  delivered  from  the 
burden  of  the  flesh,  is  in  joy  and  felicity. 

Thankfulness  for  his  release  from  great  tribula- 
tion is  mingled  with  a  sense  of  bereavement  and 
loss,  because  a  great  friendship  is  severed,  a  great 
life  work  ended,  and 

'  Our  Chief  State  Oracle  Is  Mute.' 

Thirty-seven  years  ago.  Dr.  Ellinwood  gave  him- 
self to  the  Foreign  Mission  work  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  gave  himself  without  reserve. 
His  powers,  trained  and  disciplined  in  other  depart- 
ments of  Christian  effort,  expanded  as  he  caught 
the  significance  of  that  great  enterprise,  the  world's 
evangelization.  Though  devoid  of  personal  ambi- 
tion and  self-assertion,  the  breadth  of  his  knowl- 
edge, the  fervour  of  his  spirit,  his  prophetic  grasp 
of  things  to  come,  his  courage  and  chivalry,  thrust 
him  speedily  into  a  place  of  leadership  which  he 
retained  even  after  the  '  grasshopper  had  become 
a  burden  and  desire  failed.'  Every  great  missionary 
movement  of  the  past  generation  has  been  made  a 
greater  movement  by  reason  of  his  contributions. 

As  student  of  non-Christian  religions,  as  teacher 
and  author,  he  made  all  his  acquisitions  and  output 
minister  to  the  advance  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
among  men.  More  than  any  one  individual,  he  ral- 
lied the  women  and  children  of  our  Church  to  mis- 
sionary service,  and  promoted  their  organization. 
No  one  has  done  more  than  he  to  create  our  modern 


FOREIGN  MISSION  BOARD  MINUTES   245 

mission  literature,  and  to  shape  mission  policy.  In 
more  than  one  time  of  financial  stress  and  peril, 
his  matchless  powers  of  statement,  and  kindling  en- 
thusiasm have  aroused  the  interest  of  large-minded, 
large-hearted  men,  and  brought  deliverance.  To 
his  foresight  and  initiative  v^e  owe  our  two  great 
missions  in  Korea  and  to  the  Philippines,  where 
the  triumph  of  the  Gospel  in  recent  years  marks  a 
new  epoch  in  missionary  annals.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  myriads  to-day  are  walking  in  the  light 
of  the  Gospel,  who  would  have  been  in  the  dark, 
but  for  the  wisdom  with  which  he  planned  and  the 
vigour  with  which  he  wrought. 

He  magnified  the  work  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
because,  while  a  most  loyal  Presbyterian,  he  was 
more  than  a  Presbyterian.  He  was  swift  to  recog- 
nize the  urgent  need  of  comity  and  co-operation  with 
all  evangelical  Christians  in  missionary  effort,  and 
was  foremost  in  promoting  those  fraternal  confer- 
ences by  which  men  of  conflicting  opinions  and  dis- 
cordant methods  were  induced,  under  the  constrain- 
ing power  of  Christ's  love,  to  make  common  cause 
and  strive  together  for  the  extension  of  Christ's 
kingdom.  It  is  largely  due  to  his  initiative  that  the 
Church  to  which  we  owe  allegiance  has  been  lifted 
into  a  place  of  acknowledged  leadership  in  that 
movement  which  in  heathen  lands  is  obliterating 
lines  of  division,  resulting  from  past  religious  con- 
flicts, and  is  giving  unity  and  solidarity  to  the  forces 
of  the  Kingdom. 

His  keen  intelligence,  his  grasp  of  fundamental 
principles,   and  his  powers  of  persuasive  speech. 


246         FRANK  FIELD  ELLINWOOD 

made  him  not  only  a  master  of  assemblies  but  a 
master  in  the  statesmanship  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

His  breadth  and  poise  and  symmetry  of  character 
gave  him  commanding  influence  in  the  counsels  of 
the  Board.  His  courtesy  and  kindness  and  mag- 
nanimity, the  simplicity  and  fearlessness  of  his  faith 
and  his  abounding  charity,  endeared  him  to  his  asso- 
ciates while  he  lived.  They  cherish  his  memory 
now  that  he  has  gone. 

*  Gone,  but  nothing  can  bereave  him 
Of  the  force  he  made  his  own 
Being  here,  and  we  believe  him 
Something  far  advanced  in  State, 
And  that  he  wears  a  truer  crown 
Than  any  wreath  that  man  can  weave  him.'  " 


Date  Due 


